
Class. 
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C.OPXBEGRT DEPOSm 




MR. NATHAN STOWE 



Sixty Years' Recollections 
of Milford 



And Its Chronology from 1637 Up to and 
Including 1916 



By NATHAN STOWE 



The Whole Edited and Revised 

BY 
NEWTON HARRISON, E. E. 



Copyrighted by 

Simon Lake, Helene Y. Putney, Newton Harrison 

For the Village Improvement Association 



MILFORD, CONNECTICUT 
1917 






TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page 
Foreword 5 

Chapter I 9 

Chapter IT 17 

Chapter III 22 

Chapter IV . . 28 

Chapter V 33 

Chapter VI 39 

Chapter VII 44 

Chapter VIII 50 

Chapter IX 55 

Chapter X 61 

Chronological History of ]\Iilford 67 



OCT 24 1917 



'GI,A476743 



FOREWORD 

By Newton Harrison 
Written in June, 1917 

In these memorable times, when the great war, the Arma- 
geddon of nations, is being fought out relentlessly at the cross- 
roads of destiny, this brief page in the life of our community 
has been completed. But, however unimportant the town of 
]\lill'ord may seem to those of the world who have travelled in 
other lands, or visited the great cities of the United States, it 
must be remembered that the settlement of Milford, like that of 
the rest of New England, was prompted by a love of liberty so 
sincere, so deep and impelling, that though broad seas had to 
be crossed, in what today would be called cockle-shells of ships, 
and a wilderness had to be explored, inhabited by wild and 
savage tribes, tlie early pioneers, imbued with a holy faith in 
their ideals, and an iron resolution to succeed, faced these dan- 
gers with stout hearts and undaunted minds. 

To them, a new land was preferable to one in which their 
rights were withheld, even though the dangers to be faced were 
such as to make the strongest and most capable fear the end. 
It was an adventure in which only rugged personalities engage, 
if the ideals held in view are great enough to overcome the 
terrors of the tlesh, through the strength of their appeal to the 
spirit. The early settlers sought for a liberty in the wilds that 
was denied them in the cities of men. They sought to establish 
justice under the free skies of uncharted shores, because it was 
not given to them by the courts of the land they left. It was 
this sacrifice on their part that gave to American civilization 
its ever-enduring greatness, based upon the right to be free and 
the belief in justice. 

It is not difficult to understand, therefore, that the reasons 
leading to this strange pilgrimage of men and women from the 
land of their birth were those of power and privilege unjustly 
established in high places. The right to be free, the right to 



worship as they saw fit, the right to exclude from their lives 
the intiuence and mandates of a landed aristocracy, in combi- 
nation with the desire to build homes on the soil of the new 
world discovered by Columbus, led this community to face the 
dangers of this enterprise. A strange unrest was stirring the 
Anglo-Saxon world. Oliver Cromwell in 1640 had set fire to 
the political deadwood that encumbered England. A great 
revolution was about to break out. The head of the King 
was to fall. England was to be reconstructed. Driving and 
crushing social forces were at work. The Puritan spirit grew. 
To escape this charged atmosphere, certain groups of daring 
men and women decided upon emigration as the remedy for 
their ills. Through one of these groups New Haven found its 
origin. In 1639 the first settlement of Milford took place. 
It was not long after, in the historic count of time, that the 
famous regicides found safety and shelter in Milford, when the 
representatives of the new English monarchy, erected on the 
foundations built by Cromwell, were searching land and sea for 
them. So Milford was born of the Cromwell era, when the 
powerful forces of democracy were shaking the thrones of 
kings. And now history repeats itself. The ideals of these 
pioneers, of these brave men and women of Milford, of the 
colonies of Cape Cod, as well as those farther South, have stirred 
the hearts of the many nations. An empire of freedom has 
arisen. It has taught liberty to England. It has given to the 
lilies of France a new and enduring significance. Russia has 
shaken oif the shackles of servitude. In Italy, the fire of free- 
dom glows. It was Switzerland and the early colonists who 
first demonstrated to the world, undeniably and practically, 
that democracy is possible and right. 

The sixty years covered by the references to the men and 
women and homes of Milford people, are those that have been 
part of the life of Mr. Stowe. His father was born in 1793, 
ten years after the Revolution had ended. He is thus linked 
to its times and events by one fully in touch with that great 
period. His contribution, therefore, springs from a mind that 
has known of provincial days, and can well contrast them with 
modern times, its rush and bustle, its telegraphs, telephones, 
express trains, Atlantic liners and flying machines. He can 
well compare the simplicity of post-revolutionary days in terms 
of his father's opinions, with the tremendous and eclipsing 



change that has made the world but a neighborhood, and ren- 
dered impossible the isolation of a small town from its intruding 
and rapidly growing environment. He presents a series of 
pictures of Milford as it w^as. He touches upon old customs, 
and resurrects the incidents that clung to his memory of people 
that have long since passed away. It is all related in a way 
that carries with it the strange atmosphere of earlier days. A 
chronology compiled by him takes up the history of Milford 
from its very beginning in 1639. The separate and chief events 
of the sixty years his recollections cover, are categorically pre- 
sented in the chronological record to which reference is made. 
This contribution by him has been prepared by hours of labor 
and sacriiice, and it is but fitting that the community should 
be made aware of the fact. 

The cosmopolitanism of Milford is becoming more marked. 
The children of all races now live within its boundaries. They 
come from Calcutta and Hong Kong in the Orient, from the 
frozen fields of Russia, from the sun-kissed lands that smile 
beneath Roman skies, from the AVest Indian Islands where Co- 
lumbus first saw the goal of his dreams, and the far northern 
reaches of Canada, where French is the patois of the people. 
And on this soil, through the stimulating, instructive and vital 
influences that comprise the social, industrial, political and in- 
tellectual life of America, irritating dift'erences are removed, 
the basic elements of citizenship are developed, and whatever 
the race or creed of the emigrant, a new liberty-loving spirit is 
born, at one with the enduring ideals of Washington, the hu- 
mility and nobleness of Lincoln, and the strength, dignity and 
purpose of our courts of justice. 

Milford, as an historic center, has been one of the foci 
from which radiated the principles of free government. From 
it wandered the community that founded the city of Newark. 
Names, illustrious in the past and present of the United States, 
may be found chiselled on its tombstones. As small nations 
have made the history of the world, small settlements have 
made the history of America. Among them may be counted 
Milford. The United States is therefore unique among nations. 
All races have contributed to its development. It is the great- 
est organization the world has ever seen of co-operative forces. 
Through the warp and woof of the texture of American life the 
golden threads of idealism predominate. The spirit of emi- 



gration is the spirit of progress. When this unrest ceases, and 
smug complacency takes its place, opportunity cannot find the 
proper soil for its roots. There is a Avithering and a dying. We 
are trying a vast political experiment. It is the experiment of a 
restless people. Liberty, Justice and Ilumanity are our watch- 
words. They must serve to reconstruct the lives of all emi- 
grants. They have helped Milford to give to the nation some 
of its leaders. They are still the Avatchwords of our lips. From 
the efforts of all those brave pioneers who crossed the seas to 
find a place of freedom, who built towns in the wilderness, 
some of whom gave IMilford its name and inspiration, the United 
States of America has arisen. 

This great nation is now engaged in a mighty struggle with 
the same forces that gave it birth. The old colonial spirit, the 
soul of the small and scattered settlements of 1776 has per- 
meated every state in the Union. We have entered into a new 
war against auto2racy, perhaps the last that shall ever be 
fought. But the principles of 1776, the right of a people to 
rule themselves, are what we wish to transmit to the races o? 
Central Europe. The shining vision of a free wo'rld is the pic- 
ture before our eyes. If America has lived to gain in purpose 
and power through the establishment of the highest principles 
of national life, then that purpose and that power can only live 
in the future, if it is unstintingly lent to others, to secure for 
themselves and mankind the rights that are ours today. There- 
fore, we battle shoulder to shoulder with the upholders of lib- 
erty, with the democratic nations of the world, against the 
usurpers of power and the pirates of privilege. From Milford 
sons have gone forth already, as of old, to lay down their lives 
on the altar of liberty. Many more will follow, and prove to 
the world that the spirit of democracy kindled in Cromwell's 
day still lives; that the rights we believe to be inalienable, for 
which men died in 1776, are as powerful in their call upon men's 
souls today as then ; that when the Armageddon was fought 
at the cross-roads of destiny, our defenders of liberty did not 
falter, and among those who nobly lived, suffered and died 
Milford 's sons were not absent. 



Sixty Years' Recollections of Milford. 



CHAPTER I. 

At a regular meeting of the "Village Improvement Asso- 
ciation/' held at the D. A. R. Chapter House on the 11th day 
of July, 1910, a resolution Avas offered by j\Ir. Camille Mazeau 
and regularly adopted by the Association, providing for the 
preservation of such information as might be elicited from 
elderly people now living, relating to the physiographical fea- 
tures of our Town, from their earliest recollection, and to in- 
clude such traditional lore as might be considered reliable or 
desirable. Your historian in undertaking to gather such in- 
formatiou Avill not expect that everything contained in his 
report Avill be verified by indisputable proof, but will be open 
Cor su.eh correction as from time to time may be advisable — the 
prime object being to gather information as nearly correct as 
may be, and to preserve the landmarks of Old Milford. From 
the trend of debate at the above stated meeting, the writer was 
impressed with the need of immediate action, more especially 
as he realized that what was quite vivid in his own recollection, 
ceemed to many of those present to be ancient history, or was 
entirely unknown to them. Within the lifetime of some noAV 
among us such changes have been wrought as almost to obliter- 
ate the former landmarks and replace them with something new 
and strange. 

We will begin with a date, which between then and the 
present, covers a period of about seventy-five years, but will 
welcome any earlier history that may be obtained as well as 
that which may be given by young people to date. A very 
great obstacle to the recording of fact is that we do not fully 
appreciate the importance of events occurring in our own time 
and presence, and fail to make a note of them while yet fresh 
in the memory. 

The writer must rely upon others for information not only 
preceding his own recollection, but for much that escaped his 



10 

notice. Seventy-five years carries us back to the year 1835 
before the advent of the railroad, the telegraph or the daily 
paper. In this community there were then few of the imple- 
ments for labor saving that are in common use among us today. 
The Smithy was the apex of manufacture in metal, water-power 
the source for driving our flour and sawmills, and the treadmill, 
for sawing wood for the wood-burning locomotives when they 
became a feature among us. These were marvels of progress. The 
locomotive itself did not cease to be a wonder for some years, 
and it has been said that so great a man as Daniel Webster 
prophesied that any device that could move overland a load 
of ten tons at a speed of four miles per hour would revolution- 
ize the traffic of the world, and his prophecy was not far wrong 
except in his underrating the forces then latent in the brain of 
his contemporaries. About sixty years ago the Town Wharf 
(formerly Perit"s) was the port of entry for nearly all the mer- 
chandise that entered our Town from New York and other ports. 
Upon the arrival of "The Sloop" or packet, the wagons from 
all the stores assembled at the AA^harf and took away each its 
quota of the cargo. Wheat, flour, bran and feed were even 
then the chief part of the cargo, but general groceries, lumber 
and coal were all brought in by water. Besides the sloop, 
other vessels were required at times to bring in lumber and 
coal. The Coopers and Carriage Manufacturers sent away their 
wares and received their supplies by vessels. There were a 
number of sailboats for pleasure and in summer on pleasant 
days and moonlight nights they were seldom at anchor, and 
the merry parties might be heard in song as they sailed, and 
the writer recalls those sweet tunes with a longing for a repeti- 
tion of the same. 

At the head of the AVharf fronting the west side of the 
roadway stood Captain Mallett's cooper shop, and opposite was 
a large spring that served both the Captain and Mr. Samuel 
Burns as receptacle in which to keep their hoop-poles moist 
until required for use. Mr. Burns' shop is yet standing, but 
the land between it and the street was partly low and marshy 
and partly salt meadow, while just above the present entrance 
to the coal yard there stood a large red storehouse. Both this 
and the cooper shop on the opposite side of the street were well 
shaded and with the flowery bank by the roadside on the hill, 
formed an attractive picture which was well balanced on the 



11 

other hand by the sparkling water in the foreground backed 
by the beautiful verdure of the Harbor Woods. A thorough- 
fare ''under the bank" at the edge of the green meadow with 
its calamus beds and springs of pure water, led to the old tan- 
nery of j\Iiles Merwin where now is the straw hat factory. On 
the bank grew several buttonball trees and beneath them on 
the grassy slope among the long-stemmed dandelions, were 
often seen groups of children making dandelion chains of the 
stems. 

In the winter season when the Harbor was frozen and navi- 
gation closed, ihe hill at the foot of Wharf Street was a favor- 
ite resort for coasting for children out of school hours and 
young ladies and gentlemen in the evening. Mr. Elisha Stowe 
and his son Sydney and their families then owned and occupied 
the property now known as the Rogers place, and it was to 
this house that old Dr. Sweet moved when first he came to our 
Town. Mr. Isaac Rogers later purchased the property which 
I learn had at one time been owned by some member of his 
family, and by him some changes and additions were made, 
but the main part of the house appears outwardly much the 
same as sixty years ago. This property was a part of the 
Major Samuel Eells homestead and was bought by Mr. Peter 
Perit at the same time that Capt. Stephen Stowe came into pos- 
session of the Stowe House, now the residence of Howard Piatt. 
If it were necessary to show that this house is entitled to rank 
among the oldest remaining in Town, the following extract 
from the will of the said Major Eells furnishes the evidence : 

"Major Samuel Eells, formerly of Milford, Conn., now of 
Hingham, Mass., one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace, 
died the 21st day of April, 1709." Extract from his will: 
"Item First, That my beloved wife Sarah do within eight 
months after my decease, or upon the demand of my son, Sam- 
uel Eells, of Milford, in Connecticut Colony, quit her claim unto 
my said son and to his heirs and assigns forever of, in and unto 
my house and land in Milford, that I made over to my said 
wife upon her marriage with me, by instrument bearing date 
the 28th day of July, 1689. Item : I give and bequeath unto my 
said son, Samuel Eells, my old dwelling house, barn and home- 
lot and orchard in Milford aforesaid, with all my outlands," 
etc. He further devises to his daughter-in-law (Frances 
Oviatt Eells, widow of his son, John Eells), for her use 



12 

during widowhood, his new house, etc., and again he devises 
that upon condition of the decease of his son Samuel before 
his wife that she should be forced to part with the house 
that was her former husband's (Capt. Samuel Bryan) then she 
should if she survive his son have one-half his aforesaid old 
dwelling house, ' ' which side she pleaseth, ' ' during widowhood, 
etc. 

The foregoing are extracts from the will and relate to the 
"Stowe House" on "Wharf Street, showing that the house M^as 
standing and nnt new in July, 1689. Colonel Samuel Eells 
not only survived his second wife Martha (Whiting-Bryan) 
Eells, but afterwards married the Widow Rebecca (A¥ilkinson) 
Baldwin, grandmother of Freelove Baldwin, Freelove being 
then abmit tliirteen years of age. It is stated that upon the 
marriage of Samuel and Rebecca she moved from her own 
house on the east side of W^harf Street to that of her husband 
on the west side and opposite hers. This would indicate that 
the house that was demolished when Mr. Samuel Burns erected 
his was formerly the Baldwin place. In February, 1754, the 
Eells property was conveyed by Nathaniel Eells, son of Sam- 
uel, as follows : That part now knoAvn as the Rogers place was 
bought by Mr. Peter Perit and the remaining L-shaped piece 
running froin the street back to what is now the line of Mr. 
Alonzo Burns' yard and following that line to the harbor, was 
conveyed to Capt. Stephen Stowe. The new house before, men- 
tioned in the will of ]\Iajor Samuel Eells formerly stood where 
now stands the house recently bought by Mr. Webber, which 
said new house was taken away when Mrs. Frederick Stowe 
erected the present house about 18-10. 

Where now stands the house of Roger Baldwin stood until 
about ''the fifties" an old house in which in Revolutionary 
times lived the Doctor Carrington who with Capt. Stowe vol- 
unteered to accompany the sick American soldiers to their tem- 
porary hospital, where forty-six of them died. 

Where now is the house of Edward Parmelee stood the 
house of ]\Iajor Samuel Burns, and in his latter days the jMajor 
might frequently have been seen sitting on one of the side 
seats of his front porch, with his high Avhite silk hat and blue 
coat with gilt buttons, and leaning upon his stout cane. Cherry 
trees were then used for shade trees outside the walks on the 
street, and AVharf Street was lined with them on both sides a 



18 

greater part of its length. Some ebns still stand in front of 
Capt. Fred Stowe's place and perhaps from well ont in the 
street in front of Capt. IMichael Peck's, now the Franklin place. 
Capt. Isaac Green's honse stood with little change for more 
than sixty-five years, the Captain, thongh perhaps somewhat 
eccentric, was a very public-spirited man and did nnieli for the 
section in which he lived. It was he who opened the street 
which bears his name. He was largely instrumental in the 
erection of the Liberty Pole that for many years stood on the 
"green" in front of j\Ir. George J. Smith's residence. His 
rather spare but tall and stately form in a long military cloak 
and tall silk hat, always completing his street dress, -was a famil- 
iar figure. 

Tt is perhaps well to state here that until recent times 
the i)roperty was all enclosed by fences along the streets 
to prevent the cattle then commonly kept in or near the center 
of the Town from entering unbidden. Crossing Green Street 
near the corner facing AVharf Street stood a one and a half 
story house, the front slope of the roof ending in and forming 
the roof of the porch which extended across the front. The 
house stood high, and on the soutlierly side the cellar opened 
on a level with the ground. As the cellar door was almost iri- 
vai'iably open and the cellar dark and the ground skirted with 
thick currant bushes next the street fence, it had a most for- 
bidding look to the youngsters of the neighborhood, when at 
about dusk one of them chanced to pass. Presumably from 
the menacing appearance, it was known to the younger element 
as the haunted house. It Avas occupied by a journeyman 
cooper, Joshua Give. It was laid low when Mark Mallett re- 
placed it with the building now standing, probably about 1855. 
Capt. Mallett 's house, with the exception of an added portico, is 
little changed. His barn, wdiiieh stood about where now stand's 
the house of Omar Piatt, was moved back beyond the line of 
Mr. Piatt's fence, and has since been taken down. Capt. 
Michael Peck Avas a master carpenter and built arid lived in the 
house now owned and occupied by Miss Franklin. It was 
he who built the present First Congregational Church, which 
has since been twice enlarged. The dwelling presents inuch 
the same appearance as when first put up. Uncle John Bald- 
win's place, since occupied by Mr. Elmer Barnes, was a rather 
small house standing near the line on the southerly side of 



14 

the plot, and the northerly side was well covered with build- 
ings, the first, standing near the northerly fence and about 
twenty feet back from the street, was a small but comfortable 
building in which was domiciled the father of Mr. Baldwin, 
Avho in his declining years was cared for by his son and family ; 
extending back to the rear fence were the various outbuildings 
necessary to house the stock and animals of a small farmer's 
homestead. The small building now standing at the rear of 
the lot was for many years the "Wepowaug Engine House," 
and then stood where is now the northeast corner of the lawn 
in front of the Town Clerk's office. The house in which Mr. 
jTohn Shepherd now lives was the property of Mrs. Noble Bris- 
tol, who later moved to New Jersey, and like that of the Tib- 
bals family, next with the exception of refurbishing and the 
addition of dormer windows, presents much the same appear- 
ance now as then. The same may be said of the store on the 
corner, which was at that time kept by Messrs. Mark and 
George Tibbals as a grocery, and like most, if not all of his 
stores, was a sort of club room for men in the evenings, each 
one of which claimed its own particular coterie who were in- 
variably in their chosen places by the stove or upon a barrel- 
head. 

Returning to the easterly side of AA^harf Street : The 
houses at the lower end have been mentioned, but where now is 
the residence of Mr. Morton Tibbals former!}^ stood the barn 
and outbuildings sixty years ago owned by Mr. Lockwood 
Burns. A low building fronting upon the street next the 
northerly line was then the headquarters of Mr. Dennis Bristol, 
who maintained a passenger and baggage express between this 
town and New Haven. Mr. George Smith had but a short 
time before discontinued a like express and stage business, and 
had settled near the Housatonic River on the ground where 
now is part of Judge Root's property at the "Ferry," as it was 
yet called, though the ferry had been out of existence from the 
establishment of bridge connection by the turnpike company 
and from which they derived a revenue from the tolls exacted 
from passengers. Sometime about the time of the Civil "War 
the turnpike company gave up their maintenance and collec- 
tion of tolls and the state now assumes the maintenance of the 
road, and the two counties that of the bridge. Mr. David 
Merwin's house on Wharf Street is much the same now as sixty 



15 

years ago. The outbuildings are new. AVhere now lives ^Iv. 
Burgess then stood the house of Mr. Charles Peck, a popular 
manufacturer and dealer in hoots and shoes. The liouse in 
which he lived was the same that is now on Green Street, owned 
and occupied by the Langner family. It stood, before removal, 
about four feet from the front fence and about the same di^> 
tance from Air. Cornwall's line. The old shop stood near the 
well and JMr. Merwin's line, and was also moved awa.y, its new 
location being at the west side of the street at the head of the 
Wharf. It has recenth^ been demolished. JMr. Peck's yard 
"was about one foot below the grade of the street, and a large 
greening apple tree overhung the sidewalk and spread well 
over the dooryard. The paling was a Aveather-worn picket 
fence Avith an inclination to lie down and rest. The entrance 
gate, like a large majority of gates at that time, had a heavy 
weight swinging on a chain between it and a stout post to keep 
the gate closed, and it announced the closing with a sharp bang. 
The Cornwall house, perhaps Avith the addition of a fi-ont and 
side porch, remains the same as Avhen occupied by Mr. George 
Cornwall, the progenitor of the Green Street branch of that 
family. ]\Ir. Grove CoruAvall, the fatlier of ]\Ir. Thomas Corn- 
Avall, being a brother and the only other bearing the name in 
the toAvn until children Avere born to them. In those days it 
Avas the custom of shoemakers to take out a "seat of Avork" 
from New Haven or some local dealer, and hiring seat room in 
a shop, place therein their "kit," consisting of a cobbler's 
bench and tools, and being thus installed, begin the plying of 
their vocation. The stock drawn consisted of the uppers, cut 
by the employer, and the soles and other material in the rough. 
The journeyman had them closed, i. e., the seams stitched and 
the binding scAved on by Avomen of the toAvn who did such Avork, 
and Avhen ready he made them up and returned them to the 
employer and received in turn another "seat of work" to re- 
peat the operation. A building once used for that purpose 
stood back in the yard and Avas so used by Mr. Cornwall and 
his tenants. Deacon John Smith owned and conducted a gen- 
eral dry goods, notion and grocery store, AAdiere is noAV located 
the dAvelling of Miss Josephine Beach. A broad shed or porch 
extended across the sidcAvalk and was supported at the curb by 
neat turned posts, the walk beneath being paved with brick. 
A summer kitchen stood just back of the store, and the Avhole 



16 

space betAveen these buildings and the dwelling house on the 
corner, in which he lived, was covered by a grape arbor, which 
in season always seemed to be loaded with choice fruit. The 
Deacon and his family occupied the part of the house recently 
vacated by Dr. Beach, and in the other side Major William Bull 
lived with his family. Major Bull later moved West, where 
some of his family are yet living. Mrs. Deacon Smith was a 
sister of Mr. Everett Benjamin, who founded the jewelry busi- 
ness in New Haven, to which Mr. George H. Ford succeeded. 
On the Wharf Street side, the walks were shaded by fine 
maples, and on the Broad Street front by large stately elms, 
which have within a few years succumbed to the ravages of the 
pests. The Deacon's store was a quiet and orderly place, Avith 
settees on the northerly side of the room upon which might 
have been seen the youth and more sedate adults, especially 
when the weather was such as to keep one indoors. No bois- 
terous or unseemly conduct Avas alloAved, but a generous Avel- 
come was accorded such as would behave, and the Deacon him- 
self enjoyed a clean joke as well as the next. Taa'o sons and a 
daughter alternated as his clerks. Facing Broad Street and 
bordering on the line of the Adolphus BaldAvan plot stood the 
tailor shop and store of Mr. William Brooks. The building 
Avas later removed to and yet stands upon the ground in the 
rear of Mr. Brooks' ncAV store, since, the store of Mv. Barnes, 
druggist, noAv occupied by John HoAves. 



CHAPTER II. 



]Millneck formerly comprised that section extending along 
the liarbor front from Fowler's IMill on the Wepowaug River 
to Beard's Creek. Where now stands the straw hat factory 
was formerly the tanyard of Miles JMerwin and of his son David, 
but at the time of which Ave treat, though the buildings were 
ye\ standing, it had come to be used for other purposes, and at 
one time had served as a brewery for root beer, ]\Ir. Greenport 
being the brewer. Just prior to the demolition, the buildings 
were used to store such articles as might accumulate at a boat 
landing. "Flagg and Baldwin" secured the property and 
cleared the grounds, removing, besides the building, a reel upon 
which had been kept a fishing net which stood by the water 
at the swimming hole, which hole wa« about where now are the 
foundations of the steam boiler and engine that furnish power 
to the works. The IMerwin property'' included the Homestead 
which was about sixty j^ears ago occupied in part by Mrs. Anna 
IMerAvin and her daughter, Louisa, and in part by the family of 
Mr. Andrew Vanllorn. There was also a small building used 
as a store situated about where now is that of Mr. IT. W. Corn- 
wall. This part of the property has passed to the ownership 
of aiessrs. F. & E. L. Cornwall, and the former dwelling house 
has now become their store. This business was founded by Mr. 
William CoruAvall, who in the days of the hoop skirts first took 
the agency for such goods and travelled for a firm of manu- 
facturers and later began the manufacture on his OAvn account, 
and from the sale of these goods gradually enlarged his sphere 
until through the efforts of himself and his successors the pres- 
ent business has resulted. 

The old "French" homestead was a large shingled house 
standing on the site of the present Dumraese property quite 
close to the street, to the sideAvalk of which the steps directly 
led. It Avas used in part as a select school, I\Ir. Jonas French 
being the principal. The house Avas so much injured by light- 
ning more than fifty years ago that it was considered beyond 



18 

repair and was taken down and the present house erected in 
its stead. 

The Dickinson house, though not as well kept as formerly, 
has changed but little, if any. The barn stood back from the 
lane at the foot of the lot. Adjoining the Merwin property 
was that of Miles Davidson, which soon after passed title to 
Jonah Piatt, who added an el] part on the east side to accom- 
modate his son who began housekeeping there. Mr. Piatt's 
store was at the westerly side of the plot and stood high above 
the sidewalk. Its identity has been lost in the almost solid 
form that has since appeared. 

The next building was that of John AVelch JMerwin, now 
the store of Messrs. Harrison & Gould. The writer is in- 
formed that during the Civil AA^ar it was used as a factory for 
Army Shoes and was destroyed by fire, but to all appearance 
it is the same as that in which ]Mr. Luzerne Hubbell was Post- 
master more than sixty years ago. In this connection let us 
notice the appearance of a post office at that time. There 
were, as now, some private boxes, but for general delivery 
strips of leather tacked in diamond form with brass head tacks 
upon hinged doors behind a glass front held the letters so that 
the superscription might be in plain view from the lobby and 
each one might decide for themselves whether there was a 
letter for them. Papers of the weekly issue were inquired for 
on the day they might be expected. The letters were not 
enclosed in an envelope, but neatly folded, the ends tucked 
and fastened by either an adhesive wafer or with sealing wax, 
sometimes with the senders' private seal impressed ujion the 
wax. The postage might be prepaid or not, as the sender 
elected, and no postage stamps were then in vogue. AVhen 
the elder Mr. Brotherton was Postmaster, j^ossibly on the sec- 
ond term, the old rack was relegated to the past and the pres- 
ent system adopted. Just when stamps were first used the 
writer does not recall, but at the outbreak of the Civil AVar 
specie payments were suspended and stamps, which were then 
in use, passed current in place of coin, wliich on account of the 
gum soon became a solid mass in the small envelopes in which 
they were placed, and they were accepted on faith that tlie 
amount was as represented. From this beginning the Treasury 
Department soon began to issue a postal or fractional currency 
of larger dimensions and minus the gum. 



19 

Mr. Merwin's house is yet in evidence. The house, for 
many years the residence of Mr. Timothy Baldwin, was at one 
time a hotel or tavern kept by Captain Stephen Trowbridge, a 
retired sea captain, but about sixty years ago was the home of 
Mr. Joseph ]\Ierwin, who soon after removed to Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Outside the walk on Broad Street stood two large button-ball 
trees. The green was about this time enclosed in a two-rail 
fence, which after many years of service was removed. 

The ]Miles house next was about that time occupied by a 
family named La Forge, one of whom, a young lady, suicided 
there. It was occupied later by an ex-missionary named 
i\rinor, and soon after became the property of Mr. George Corn- 
wall, brother of Thomas, and whose wife was sister to Mr. 
Nathan A. Baldwin. After his removal to Brooklyn, N. Y., it 
passed to its present OAvners. 

Where now stands the rectorj^ of the R. C. Church, 
stood a brick dwelling in which lived ]\Irs. Adolphus BaldMdn, 
then a widow and the mother of several sons and daughters, 
one of whom, Mr. N. A. Bakhvin, was for many years a great 
benefactor to the Town, giving employment to hundreds of 
people and distributing a large amount of revenue in the form 
of wages. The house, thougli not of large proportions, was 
always well kept, and with its plate glass windows and neat 
and tidy appearance, was not an unworthy predecessor of the 
present more modern structure. 

As we have already mentioned the houses on both sides 
of Wharf Street corners, we will first note the store on one 
corner and the old cannon set in the ground at the other, which 
cannon was the speaker on public occasions for many years, 
and pass to the residence of Messrs. George and Mark Tibbals, 
who each occupied a part. Mr. George Tibbals Avill be very 
favorably remembered by those who in their youthful days en- 
joyed the sight of the large canvas upon Avhich was a fine life- 
size painting of Washington on horseback and his troops in the 
act of crossing the Delaware. This was displayed on the 22nd 
of February each year by Mr. Tibbals, and illuminated at night, 
until it became too worn to continue its use. Mr. Mark Tib- 
bals was an enthusiastic fireman and drummer, and gave much 
time and attention to the public weal along these lines. Where 
now stands the residence of I\[r. Owen Clark it is said once 
stood an old house that was removed before the time of which 



20 

we are noAV treating. More than sixty years ago there was 
neither house nor street between the grounds of the Messrs. 
Tibbals and those of Mr. Nathan Burns, who at that time lived 
in the iiouse now the residence of ]\Irs. G. A¥. Tibbals. The 
building, which is now Mrs. Clark's residence, Avas first erected 
about where Center Street opens at Broad, and Avas first used 
as a Daguerreotype gallery. Mr. George Plumb, lately de- 
ceased, was associated with Mr. Hart Rogers of Orange, in tliis 
venture, but from some cause the business was removed to 
New Haven and Mr. Rogers became associated with a Mr. Hop- 
per in the .jewelry business in the store of Mr. Adolphus Bald- 
win, which then stood about where the Masonic building now 
is. The building was destroyed by fire and the business was 
abandoned. 

When Center Street was opened, which was later than 
fifty years ago, the building was removed to where it now 
stands, and enlarged and converted into a dwelling and millin- 
ery store and was managed by Mrs. Isaac Green, with the 
blocking and pressing and bleaching done by Mr. Green on the 
premises. ' Mrs. Green, born Miss Mills, came to Milford in 
her younger days as a straw hat maker, when Flagg and Bald- 
win began the manufacture of those goods, and it was she who 
taught the beginners in their factory. 

The house of Mrs. G. W. Tibbals has had a portico put on 
the front, and perhaps other minor changes, but it presents 
much the same appearance now as then. 

A story and a half house of the common type of early days 
stood where now is the building formerly occupied as The Mil- 
ford Savings Bank offices, but about fift.y years ago the former 
residents having vacated, it was to have been occupied by par- 
ties "persona non-grata" to the neighbors. The building was 
badly shattered by parties unknown while the neighbors were 
supposed to be soundly sleeping, and was never used again. 

The Langridge store next was a veritable Dickens produc- 
tion, as was also the proprietor, Mr. Levi Langridge. The 
frame of the building is embodied in the structure as rebuilt 
by Mr. Isaac Stuwe, who came here from Hartford. The old 
store was a dark red building with a hooded gable overhanging 
the front stoop and forming a shelter thereto. Inside were 
wares of many kinds such as are now kept in a department 
store, but were then the stock of an old-fashioned country store. 



21 

Mr. Langridge was a kind-hearted and thoroughly honest mer- 
chant, and was very accommodating. As the writer knew him, 
lie was partially blind, and it was amusing to the children to 
see him try the edge of a coin with his finger nail to discover 
the denomination. The pennies at that time were about the 
same size as the quarter dollars, and the nurl on the edge or 
the absence of it gave him the clue. The writer never remem- 
bers an unkind word spoken by or of him. He wore, as did 
nearly all elderly gentlemen of that time, a high silk hat on all 
occasions when appearing in public. High hats and semi-mili- 
tary coats with gilt buttons or the regulation swallow-tail were 
commonly worn by those who made any pretension to dress 
among the gentry. Silk velvet vests and embroidered shirt 
fronts had not given way to the more plain and formal starched 
monstrosities of today. Beau Brummel, it is true, had intro- 
duced the stiff collar, for which the writer presumes he is still 
doing penance, but the separate collar was yet to come. Mr. 
Langridge 's house was that which is noAV standing in the rear 
of the Methodist parsonage. It then stood where is now the 
Methodist Cluirch. A high close board fence separated the 
sidewalk from a little yelping cur that saluted every passer, 
while at front of the house, an ornamental picket fence al- 
lowed a view of the thick shrubbery and flowers that filled the 
front yard. 



CHAPTER III. 



The Governor Law place was that which having been al- 
most entirely rebuilt, was recently occupied by Commodore 
Askam. This was not the original Law property, as that from its 
description was where now is a part of the Central School 
grounds. Sixty years ago it was as then occupied by the 
Law family, and an elderly lady bearing the name and 
a relict of the old family, was still an occupant of a part of the 
house, though most of it was given up to Mr. William Kelsey 
and family. Mr. Kelsey was one of four brothers who were 
the village blacksmiths at that time, and an honest, staunch 
though unassuming company of Christian gentlemen they were. 
Mr. William Kelsey in company with Mr. Gilbert Nettleton 
while out on some business in connection with the Plymouth 
Church, were struck by a locomotive while crossing the tracks 
and both were instantly killed. Mrs. James S. Tibbals, a niece 
of Mr. Kelsey, is the only remaining member of the family in 
Milford at this time. Capt. Samuel Stowe, father of Theodore, 
and grandfather of Mrs. Fred Cornwall, lived in a small two- 
story house where now is the home of Mr. and Mrs. William 
Osborne. ''Capt. Sam" Avas one of a number of sea captains 
who had retired from a seafaring life and settled down to enjoy 
the fruits of their earlier struggles with the elements. He was 
of short stature with plenty of avoirdupois and smooth shaven 
ruddy face. His occupation in the evening of life was as as- 
sistant to Mr. Jason Bristol in his store. 

Joseph Smith, Avith his AvidoAved mother and a Aveak- 
minded maiden lady named Polly Keith, liA^ed in an old type 
story and half house on the corner of Camp Lane (now La- 
fayette Avenue). He was a farmer who, too parsimonious to 
employ help, ahvays had an ui^hill struggle Avith poverty, 
and his antagonist ahvays appeared to be in the lead. 
His cattle looked as if they never expected to get another coat 
of hair, and held on to the old one far beyond its usefulness. 
His fences Avere dilapidated and everything shoAved that the 



23 

battle was an unequal one. He then owned all the property 
on the east side of Camp Lane as far as the rear line of the 
Green Street lots and on both sides of what is now Central 
Avenue as far as the rear of the lots on Center Street, west 
side. Central Avenue was not open at that time and all was 
an open field. His barn stood about where now is the resi- 
dence of Mrs. Susan i\Iallory, who in the latter part of Mr. 
Smith's life lived with and cared for the family in their old 
age. Mr. Smith withal was not a bad or troublesome neigh- 
bor, but could never keep up with his duties, and being weary 
and dispirited, fell an easy prey to the wiles of the youth look- 
ing for amusement, and yet he suffered mostly in silence, 
seldom making trouble for any. Camp Lane was then a kind 
of deserted back road, the only house between Broad and Green 
Streets being the old Camp dwelling, in which in one room 
were domiciled two sisters, Amy and Hetty Camp. Amy tried 
to draAV a precarious existence from the neighbors who were 
kindly disposed, and Hetty acted as a kind of decoy, never 
appearing in public and always expected to be suffering in bed 
when seen by any from the outer w^orld who chanced to visit 
their room. The street had a neglected appearance, and 
where now is the corner of Central Avenue was a water course, 
bridged over in the roadway, with ditches on either hand, in 
which the fiery nettles made a thriving growth. The old 
Camp house, in its day a rather pretentious one, stood with its 
front facing Broad Street, two stories in front and sloping to 
one in the rear, the gable end on the street line. The house 
erected by Mr. Treat Camp now occupies the former site of 
the old one. 

A small house in which lived Mr. Ralph Burns, now owned 
by Mrs. Somers, on the west side, and the small one on the 
east side now owned by Mrs. Brown, then the residence of Mr. 
Nicholas Penf old, complete the number of houses on that street, 
which then came to a dead end about where it now dies out 
into Rogers Avenue. 

Returning to Broad Street, Mr. Jonas Bristol demolished 
an old building which the writer does not recollect, and erected 
in its place what is now the home of Mrs. "Willis Oviatt, in 
which Mr. Bristol lived and his widow after him until her death 
a few years since. He also put up and ran for many years a 
grocery store on the corner of his property at Broad and La- 



24 

fayette Streets. He had a barn about where is now the resi- 
dence of Mrs. Hine. His property extended down Lafayette 
Street to the Cami3 property line and was then protected on 
tlie street side by a neat stone wall, besides which he finally 
graded and laid out a sidewalk. 

The house of Thaddeus Baldwin, a kinsman of Freelove 
Baldwin, is yet standing and in appearance is not greatly 
changed. The barn stood perhaps a hundred feet west of the 
house, its gable end on the street line. The fine old elm has 
been spared, and let us hope it may be for many years to come. 

Passing Tory Brook and crossing tlie roadway to Seaside 
Avenue we come to the former site of a district school house 
which served to instill into the minds of the youth of that dis- 
trict through the efforts of the teachers there employed, the 
rudiments of a course in English. Following Seaside Avenue 
we come to the house of ]\Irs. Hepburn, which was built by Mr. 
Frederick demons, one of the few foreign-born residents of 
the Town at that time. He came from Holland in 1836, the 
same year that Mr. John Lines came from Ireland. Patrick 
Flynn, who for many years and up to the time of ids death was 
in the employ of Mr. Charles H. Pond, who lived where now 
lives Mr. Lauren Wilcox; Mr. Maurice Royden, tlie progenitor 
of that family in ]\Iilford; and Mr. Franklin, the father of 
Miss Ella Franklin, completed the list of foreign-born residents 
in Town at that time. All except "Patrick Pond," as he was 
called, married here and their families are among our thriving 
citizens. 

On the west side of Seaside Avenue as we approach the 
rise in tlie road, stood a large two-story house in which lived 
]\Ir. Mark AVilcox, the grandfather of the Wilcox "boys" who 
have lately returned to ^lilford to settle after years of bat- 
tling in the struggle for merited rest. No other houses then 
stood upon the land adjoining that street until we return to 
the houses of IMr. Elias Tibbals and his brother Joseph, facing 
Tory Park. Both are practically the same as they then were. 
The house now known as the Pond Place and said to have been 
the first erected outside of the Palisade, was then the home of 
Mr. Jason Clark and family, who were descendants of the orig- 
inal owners. ^Irs. Jonathan Clark, tlic mother of Jason, was 
then a member of the family. Mv. Clark and famiiy were 
among tliose who sought to improve their fortunes in the West, 



25 

and it is presumed that some of them are yet living in their 
adopted home. ]\lrs. Clark was a daughter of Capt. Samuel 
Stowe and sister of Theodore, lately deceased. The barn 
belonging to the i^lace is yet standing. On the opposite side 
of the street there has been neither a new house erected nor 
have any been removed, the only radical change noticed is a 
new form of roof on the house formerly owned by Mr. William 
Tibbals, familiarly known as ''Cooper Bill," in distinction from 
"Uncle Bill," who then occupied an old-time house where now 
stands the residence of his grandson, Roger Smith. The house 
of Cooper Bill was built with a flat roof, but now has a gable 
roof. It is now the residence of Mrs. TTiomas. The house 
next above on the same side of the street was until 1849 the 
home of Mr. Samuel Tibbals, who in that year became one of 
the party Avho on the ship Isaac Bell made a voyage around 
Cape Horn to the Golden Gate in search of the glittering for- 
tunes which attracted a number of our citizens. ]\Ir. Tibbals 
was of the number of those who never returned. His brother 
Charles not only never returned, but he lived only long enough 
to see the land of promise without ever having put foot upon 
it, as his death occurred just as tliey were entering the harbor 
to complete .the voyage. He was the father of Mr. Albert C. 
Tibbals, who is the sole survivor of that family. An old house 
stood between the short street, which we believe to be called 
Osborne Street, and Tory Brook, and on the same plot was a 
small shop and tannery. These were the home and places of 
business of Mr. Abram Burns, who with his family soon after 
joined in the stream that was flowing westward, and the house 
became the home of Mr. Dennis Bristol, father of the late 
George Bristol. It has since been demolished, as has also the 
house of Mr. Charles Tibbals on the same plot but facing 
Golden Hill Street. This latter house was set low in relation 
to the street level, and being but one story in front and par- 
tially hidden in shrubbery, was a typical "Cottage Under 
the Hill." Here the widowed mother reared her two sons, 
George W. and Albert C. Tibbals, and spent the remaining 
years of her life. The house of George Osborne, now the house 
of Mr. and ]\Irs. Henry Beecher, is not greatly changed in out- 
ward appearance. The houses on Golden Hill Street, with 
few exceptions, remain about as they were. We have already 
noted the change in the property of Mr. Roger Smith. The 



26 

old type of house, formerly the home of Marcus Baldwin and 
family, has been demolished and that of Mr. Joseph Davidson, 
now the residence of Mr. Camille Mazeau, has been entirely re- 
modelled. It was formerly a story and a half house of the 
common type of early days. At the apex of the gore on the 
same plot was a small frame structure in which lived an old 
colored couple. Old Sybel, a kindly woman with the appear- 
ance of the Southern "Mammy", might often have been seen 
in the doorwaj^ ready to extend a kindly greeting to passersby. 
West Town Street, now lying between the residence of Mr. 
Robert Clark and Mr. Gunn, formerly crossed the railroad 
tracks at grade, where the old projections yet remain though 
bisected by the railroad. Just north of the tracks and facing 
the street on its westerly side was, almost hidden in shrubbery 
and flowers, the home of Captain and Mrs. Augustus Kelsey, 
one of the four blacksmith brothers. The Captain was, though 
a quaint character, a general favorite with all who knew him. 
He could shape an iron, temper steel, sail a boat successfully, 
catch fish and pass a quaint remark with never a thought of 
malice toward any. He had a method of profanity entirely 
original and entirely devoid of blasphemy. Mrs. Kelsey had 
a penchant for procuring novelties in flowers and shrubs, and 
a fine display was made throughout the place. The old Ell 
Baldwin house stood near the railroad opposite the present fine 
residence of Mr. George Gunn, and it is said that from the 
steps of this house Whitfield once preached. It was at one 
time the residence of Stephen, one of the sous of Capt. Stephen 
and Freelove Baldwin Stowe, who in Eevolutionary days was 
a midshipman in the navy. At the time of which we treat 
it was the home of the AVidow Mary (Stowe) Baldwin, and 
some members of her family. The old brass knocker from the 
front door now adds to the historical value of the Memorial 
Bridge. No house has arisen from the old site, and it is now 
a part of the farm land. The house of Mr. Samuel Gunn is 
the same now occupied by his well known son, Ex-Senator 
George M. Gunn. The general form of the building has been 
preserved, though it is at i3resent more ornate than when new. 
The common in front has by the munificence of the present 
owner been transformed from a barren waste into a beauty 
spot and adds much to the civic features of our Town. The 
home of Mr. Charles Tomlinson has lost nothing of its always 



27 

neat appearance, from the time of its erection by his father, 
Mr. Nathan Tomlinson. The small old type of house in the 
same enclosure was once the home of the Baldwin family of 
which Mr. Roger S. Baldwin is a member, and Mr. and Mrs. 
William Brotherton lived there before he established himself 
on Union Street, where his son and namesake now resides. 



CHAPTER IV. 



About where now is Dr. Putney's residence stood tlie 
large old-fashioned house of the A¥idow Abb.y Arnold. She 
was also connected with the Baldwin family just mentioned, 
and her husband was connected with the Law and Arnold 
families, of which Benedict Arnold was, before his fall, an 
honored scion. The small house now owned by the estate of 
Jabez Smith was a rebuilt one and first occupied by Luke Bris- 
tol, whose wife was a daughter of Mr. Levi Langridge. Mr. 
Bristol was one of ten sisters and brothers, children of Mr. 
Nehemiah Bristol, of whom Dea. Smith Bristol was another. 
Mr. Thaddeus Smith, Mr. David Smith, his brother, Mr. Wil- 
liam Brooks, and their families have occupied the same houses 
in which they now reside for more than sixty years, and while 
the houses have undergone some changes, the general effect is 
not radically different. "Where now stands the home of Mr. 
Harry Clark there stood the store of Mr. Charles Baldwin, the 
father of Roger. The building stood near the street and had 
the old-time shutters at the windows, the lower part made to 
drop on its hinges, while the upper half was raised to form an 
awning. Mr. B's dwelling stood where now is the residence 
of Mr. Simon Lake. The property was purchased and the 
present building erected by Mr. John W. Fowler, a New York 
business man, who was returning to his native place to enjoy 
the early scenes of his childhood. He afterwards retired from 
business and for many years was a respected resident and 
official of our Town, where some of his children still reside. 

Mr. Charles Hobby Pond, a gentleman in poor health, lived 
where now Mr. Lauren Wilcox has established his home. Mr. 
Pond was a man of good taste, his grounds were always an 
ornament to that section of the Town. They were enclosed 
in a high fence with large encased posts surmounted with 
urns, and within was just the tasteful display of flower and 
shrub that lends a charm to the well kept lawn, and paved 
walks in view, a peacock proudly strutted about as if in de- 



29 

fiance of any landscape vieing in beauty with his own. Gov- 
ernor Pond on the other corner of High Street occupied a 
large old-fashioned house which stood where Mr. Will Wood- 
ruff has since erected a dwelling, part of the old cellar wall 
having been taken out while excavating for the new. The 
front door was of the pattern that opened at the top, and when 
desired leaving the lower part closed, thus giving air without 
admitting of ingress or egress too freely. The family of Pond 
in Milford has always been a prominent one, and much has 
been accomplished in civic impro'vement through their efforts. 
The Governor's Homestead property covered all the ground 
from High Street to the store of Adolphus Baldwin, where 
now is the Masonic Building and back to the line of Dr. Allen 's 
fence. The old tavern kept by Mr. Nathan Merwin, then with 
its buildings and accessories occupied all the space from the 
Governor Pond place to that of Mr. Calvin Durand and back 
to about where now is the line of highway near the railroad. 
The house proper was a two-story structure, later raised to 
three story with an arbor over the sidewalk, upon which spread 
the branches of thrifty grape vines, beneath which on pleasant 
days gathered a coterie of elderly men to discuss old times and 
current topics, as well as to tell over and again of the great 
catches of fish and the wonderful feats of horseflesh. The 
Iliggins Club then occupied a part of the second story of the 
Tavern. 

A small meat market occupied the space in front of the 
sheds between which and the house ran an alley leading to 
the barns in the rear, a footpath was made through the potato 
patch the better to reach the railroad station, after the trains 
began their regular runs. Mr. Durand 's house, now occupied 
by his son, Cecil, remains much as when he occupied it. His 
grounds extended to the corner of River Street and back to 
and perhaps including the property then occupied by "Capt. 
Dick" Hepburn, the uncle of Mrs. E. P. Smith and the father 
of Mrs. O'Connor of Gulf Street. This was originally the 
homestead property of Alexander Bryan. Capt. Dick was 
another of the elderly retired mariners who "hauled out on the 
ways" to keep out of the way of barnacles and borers in the 
port from Avhich in their early days they began their first 
voyage. Mr, John W. Fowler once published a list of about 
eighty who had for many years ploughed the fitful wave, finally 



30 

to reach a haven in our quiet Town. Capt. Dick's house stood 
where now runs the roadway to the east bound station of the 
railroad. It was an unpretentious house of two stories with 
a shading grape arbor at the south side, and after the railroad 
was double tracked, a stone wall at the embankment. When 
the railroad was projected a house in which lived Mr. Horace 
Mallett stood directly in the path and was purchased and re- 
moved to about where the livery stables now are near the sta- 
tion. The house was finally destroyed by fire. All the ground 
from the corner of River Street and New Haven Avenue to. the 
railroad and Wepowaug on both sides of Daniel Street, except 
that occupied by the old Town House, part of which is now 
under the railroad bed, and that where now stands the lunch 
car near the bridge was in possession of the Davidson family, 
of whom Mr. Richard Treat Davidson was the oldest living rep- 
resentative. Perhaps may be omitted from this the ground 
whereon was erected the Methodist Church building now em- 
bodied in the business block and owned by Mr. George J. 
Smith. The writer is informed that there once stood a resi- 
dence there that was the home of Mr. Thomas Gordon, a son-in- 
law of Mr. Samuel Burns. On the corner where now is the 
store of Mr. William Clark stood the house of Mr. Charles 
Davidson, father of Henry, now living on High Street. The 
house was moved and is yet standing on the corner of Daniel 
Street near the Memorial Bridge, and is the residence of Mr. 
Frank Burns. On a retaining wall next south of the M. E. 
Church was a small two-story house of Richard Treat Davidson, 
whose wife was a granddaughter of Stephen and Freelove Bald- 
win Stowe, and they were the parents of the others who then 
lived in that section. Luke Davidson occupied the small build- 
ing yet standing at the corner of Daniel and River Streets that 
was once since used as the Post Office, and has been used for a 
variety of purposes since, and is now used as a shoe repairing 
shop. Mr. Samuel Davidson lived on the other side of Daniel 
Street near the river, in a gambrel roofed house that was to 
end its days as a dispensary of wet goods by Mr. Frank Dawson, 
its late owner. It was wiped out by fire some years ago. All 
of the Davidson family removed, in time, to more commodious 
quarters, and all of that generation are now dead. Passing 
the railroad, the old Kelsey homestead is yet standing, but the 
grounds are greatly changed. The whole grounds were im- 



31 

proved and planted with an orchard and a great variety of 
flowers and shrubs, and the walk from the street to the house 
lay between rows of boxwood hedge. A smithy stood back 
from the street near the northerly line, and a driveway was 
open from near the railroad bridge in about a direct line to 
near where now is Mr. Darius "Whitcomb's shop. The first 
district schoolhouse then stood where now stands the P. E. Rec- 
tory. An old willow tree stood at the left of the schoolhouse 
and near the street. There was also a large willow at the 
corner of Daniel Street outside of the sidewalk. The brook 
that was then an open watercourse across the common and 
entered the Wepowaug just north of the P. E. Church was a 
favorite place for watering horses, and they were driven past 
the blacksmith's shop and schoolhouse and church and through 
the brook and then up the alley to the street. The brook was 
bridged at both roadAvays and sidewalks. The P. E. Church 
was a frame building painted in imitation of brownstone and 
sanded, and about this time Avas taken away and the present 
edifice erected. The grounds claimed by the society were 
enclosed within a railing and all traffic closed over the grounds. 
The schoolhouse was removed and it is believed all dispute is 
settled to the satisfaction of all. Mr. AVilliam Weeks con- 
ducted the tinsmith business on or near the same site that it 
has been continued first by Mr. Samuel Gunn and since by 
Messrs. Theron and IMerritt Ford. I\Ir. Weeks sold out his 
house and barn and the land on which they stood to IMr. Rogers 
Ford, who transformed the barn into a smithy and made the 
house a residence for his family. The house is yet standing 
but hidden from view by the buildings on the street. There 
had at one time been a small horseshoeing shop near the river 
and bridge, but Avas abandoned at the time of which Ave treat. 
The Municipal Building is a reconstructed building, the 
nucleus of which Avas the unused building of the Baptist 
Society. The Town Hall, a like structure, was brought into 
line and the space between filled, and the graceful structure 
as Ave see it resulted. Dickinson Mill on the one side, and 
Davidson I\Iill on the other of the milldam, like FoAvler's Mill 
below, were not unsightly and proved very useful to the towns- 
people. They had the appearance of a two-story building and 
were painted AAdiite and Avere of fair proportions. FoAvler's 
Mill had in connection with its flour mill, a sawmill, where 



32 

were usually to be found a quantity of logs to be made into 
lumber. From tlie railroad north to the old Town Hall the 
land had not been fully reclaimed from its former state as 
■'little dreadful swamp," and though a ditch followed on either 
side of the roadway, at times the roads were almost impassable. 
But patience and perseverence seem to have conquered. Mr. 
Charles Smith, brother of Dea. John, Thaddeus and David, 
then owned and lived in the present home of IMr. Edward 
Reichel, which house, like that of Ralph Chidney, has met with 
little change. Capt. William Glenney, another of the old- 
time mariners, owned and then occupied a large old type of 
house which he sold to Mr. Harvey Beach, who demolished the 
house and erected that now the residence of Mr. J. D. Brown. 
]Mr. Beach spent the latter part of his life here with Mrs. Beach 
and the daughter, Josephine, who is yet a resident. Between 
the residence of Mr. Beach and that of Dr. Brace stood a small 
dwelling that was removed to High Street and fitted up as the 
home of Mr. Michael O'Brien, and has but recently passed cut 
of the hands of that family. Before removal it had been oc- 
cupied by a family named Barton. Near this house stood a 
large gambrel roofed building that was moved to Cherry Street 
and stood near where now is the residence of Mrs. Dr. Heady, 
and after removal was at one time the tinshop of Mr. John P. 
Downs. The Dr. Brace place is said to have been at one time 
a hotel kept by a Mr. Buddington, and in seeking to bring to 
his door some of the travel from New Haven planted a row of 
elms on either side of a direct line from the Jefferson Bridge 
to his house. Standing in front of that house it may be noted 
that a few of those trees are left yet. The house itself has not 
greatly changed in appearance. 



CHAPTER V. 



The history of the plot upon which now stand the First 
Congregational Parsonage and the residence of Mr. G. Frank 
Smith seems a little clouded. About sixty years ago there 
were the remains of an old cellar about which had grown 
a group of cherry trees, and the indications are that here once 
stood a house upon which Capt. Samuel Eells obtained from 
Mr. Alexander Bryan a mortgage by the records, and in a 
description of the property it is bounded on property of Jona- 
than Law. Sixty years ago there were no buildings upon it. 
As we come to the school grounds on the extreme corner next 
the street stood a small house then owned by Capt. :\Iark Stowe 
and let by him as a tenement. AVhether it was this house or 
its predecessor that for a time sheltered the Regicides, the site 
is the same. This house and Mr. Stowe 's own residence and 
that of the Rev. Asa :\I. Train w^ere removed to make way for 
the central school. The Train House, as it was known, was 
erected by Mr. Isaac I\Iills for his daughter when she became 
the wife of tlie Rev. Samuel AYales. The house now occupied 
by Dr. Cairoli and family was formerly the residence of Dr. 
Lucius Beardsley, and except the change from a fiat to a gable 
roof, remains much the same. On this plot at one time stood 
the residence of the Rev. Roger Newton of the First Congrega- 
tional Church. He was a learned man and taught many young 
aspirants for the ministry. Llis grandson and namesake, CoL 
Roger Newton, was quite prominent in both military and civil 
office in Colonial days. 

The residence of Mr. Amos Ford and that of his grand- 
daughter and family was once a. hotel, and the well-known 
story of AYashington's visit there needs no repetition. 

The house now owned and occupied by IMrs. Noyes was 
the home of Mr. Henry Pinueo, who rebuilt the house that was 
his father's. Mr. Henry was a son of the Rev. Bezaliel Pin- 
neo, who for many years was pastor of the First Congrega- 
tional Church. The president edifice of the First Congrega- 



34 

tional Church is the third since organization, and was built by 
Michael Peck in 1823. It was at first seventy feet in length, 
but in the late "sixties" was enlarged to its present dimen- 
sions. 

On the ground where now stands the Plymouth Church 
Parsonage stood an old type story and half house usually oc- 
cupied by the miller who at the time of Avhich we are writing 
was Mr. Piatt, not a native of the town, but as it would seem 
to the writer, a connection of the Waterbury familj^ of that 
name. 

Mr. Samuel Higby's place remains about as it was, except 
for the removal of a barn from the easterly line on Gregory's 
Hill. 

Wliere now stands the house of Mr. Hart Sperry. which 
house was built by Mr. Lemuel Powell, formerly stood the low, 
brown house of Mr. David Stowe. 

The houses of Messrs. Charles and Thomas Cornwall and 
the shop of Thomas were then standing as now, except that 
the shop has been converted into a dwelling. 

The house near Memorial Bridge, then the home of ]\Ir. 
Joseph Fowler, is standing about the same. AVhere is now 
that unique structure which is the pride of so many of our 
townspeople, then was a rather dilapidated wooden afifair that 
served for the traffic which mostly ended at the Mill or the 
"Graveyard". New Haven Avenue was not yet projected. 
The flour and sawmills have been mentioned and the old ship- 
yard had been abandoned for that purpose, but was used to 
some extent by the brothers Eli and Asa Green for the building 
of small boats and by some parties for tarring them. It was 
a favorite place for the boys to bathe and the rays of the sun 
furnished a satisfactory bathing-suit. There were two small 
gardens enclosed between the roadway and water, one used 
perhaps by Mr. Harpin Fowler, and the other by Mr. Samuel 
Peck. On a small triangle with a roadway each side of it, 
and facing the old roadway that still runs to and along the 
railroad and .between the flour mill and Mr. Harpin Fowler's 
place, stood a yellow building that was for the most part un- 
used for any purpose at the time of which we write, but later 
was used as a tinware and stove store for a short time. When 
New Haven Avenue was opened the building was removed and 
the roadway covers the space it occupied. 



35 

Perhaps the small house on the bank of the old Milltail 
may represent what yet remains of the building itself, as that 
house was not there at that time. 

The houses of the Green brothers, Samuel Peck and Ilar- 
pin Fowler are yet standing, but the grounds of Mr. Fowler 
were encroached upon to make way for the opening of New 
Haven Avenue, which encroachment was hotly contested by l\Ir. 
John W. Fowler, whose ancestral precincts it invaded, but as 
now. perhaps, the sentiment that then prevailed in relation to 
the place has no such ardent an apostle. A further encroach- 
ment that would eliminate a very menacing turn from that 
much used thoroughfare might be advisable. 

The small house on the corner opposite the Fowler Place 
presents about the same appearance, though between that and 
the railroad was mostly covered by a pond. The old-fashioned 
house that stood ^vitli its front right on the street line and 
farther along near the railroad the home of the sister and 
brother, Hetty and William Fowler, completed the residences 
on that gore. No other house was then standing between 
Prospect Street and Gulf Street south of the railroad until we 
come to the house later occupied by Capt. William Glenney, the 
same that is now standing near the entrance to Dr. AA^alker's 
grounds and a part of his buildings. Nearly opposite the 
Coggeshall place, which is yet standing on the east side of 
Gulf Street, then stood the former home of I\rr. Elias Smith, but 
sixty years ago was occupied by Mr. Samuel Parsons and fam- 
ily, of which Mrs. George Mallett was a member. A sister of 
hers became the wife of the Rev. N. T. Merwin of this town. 

W^here now is the fine residence of Judge William Stod- 
dard then stood a house of near like dimensions owned by Mr. 
Nathan Whiting, from whom the father of Judge Stoddard 
purchased the property which included the old Gulf ]\Iill, then 
standing on a causeway near the bridge, and a small house near 
the Gulf AVharf at the end of the lane now used by the Oyster 
Co. The small house is yet in evidence, though the Mill has 
long since ceased to be a landmark. No jetty was then there, 
but water gates just above the bridge which opened with the 
flood and closed with the ebb tide, gave a reserve of water to 
drive the mill when the outer tide should create a current 
through the mill flume by attaining a lower level. The Mill 
itself far surpassed any in our town and was used for various 



36 

purposes besides the grinding of grain. Perhaps just before 
Mr. Stoddard purchased it was the time in which no grain 
was ground there. Mr. David Soniers was for a time the 
miller, and later Mr. David Plumb, IMr. George Ringsley, ^tr. 
Newton and others. The building was a large square struc- 
ture with higli gable roof and the windows were irregularly 
placed where the light might be needed without regard to 
symmetry of lines. It was walled up from the ground and 
stood over the water with a large undershot waterwheel at the 
southerly side. A white shell road in front of the massive red 
building fronting a glassy pond of pure, clear salt water, made 
a picture that might well have been preserved, including the 
bridge and Avater-gates. No buildings were then on the oppo- 
site side of the roadway, but from the evidence of an old cellar 
just at the corner of the upland of the Stoddard grounds it 
would appear that earlier there had been one there. The 
Gulf AVharf was little used at this time, but vessels at times 
discharged cargoes, perhaps of the raw material for the mill 
and the return cargo of the ground product. The remains of 
an old vessel or scow rested on the northerly side of the wharf, 
a relic of the past. Passing along the shore beyond the 
bridge to where now begin the grounds of ^Ir. Clark Wilcox, 
upon the crest of the bank stood a small shack used as a shel- 
ter for the fishermen who then worked a large net that, upon 
large reels beneath the shelter of sheds, together with the boats 
and other paraphernalia, rested quietly near the water's edge 
when not in use. While the special mission of the plant was 
to furnish fertilizers for the use of the farmers of the town, 
many edible fish were often brought in with the menhaden, 
and lucky was the small boy who happened near, as no restraint 
was put upon him in taking a supply. The roadway on top 
of the bank has since become a feature of travel in that direc- 
tion, the only way of reaching ''Welch's Lane" before having 
been by way of the beach when the tide permitted, or across 
private propert,y. It is said that the land was purchased and 
donated to the town for a road by Mr. Elisha Flagg, of Plagg 
& Baldwin. Three brothei's of that family were at some time 
connected with the stra^v hat business here, familiarly known 
as Lishe, Marsh and George Flagg. Mr. John AVelch, one of 
the last descendants of Thomas Welch, being the family name, 
'vho purchased the land from Old Chief Ansantawae when the 



37 

Chief finally disposed of his last holdings in To-wn, then lived 
in what was probably the original home of the family, then on 
the southerly side of the street at the top of the grade from the 
waterfront. The homestead grounds of Thomas Welch were 
on North Street. 'A few rods on and on the opposite side of 
the street stood, and yet stands with little change in outward 
appearance, the home of Mr. William Gillette and family. Mr. 
Gillette is a descendant of Thomas Welch. No other building 
then stood on that street until the Pond Point highway was 
reached. 

Returning to the roadway from Fowler's Mill, all the 
houses have been noticed until Gulf Street is met with. Near 
the railroad and on the north side of it somewhat back from 
Gulf Street and near the swamp, stood the white schoolhouse 
for that district, embracing all that territory laying south of the 
center of Cherry Street between the Wepowaug and Indian 
Rivers and Long Island Sound. From the railroad south on 
the east side of Gulf Street stood the small house of Horace 
Brown, father of Samuel Brown, lately deceased, and the house 
is yet standing but shows the ravages of time. Where now is 
the house of j\Ir. Ilollo^vay, which house was built for Mr. Wil- 
liam Pond, then stood an old-fashioned house then occupied by 
Mrs. Betsy Treat. It was demolished when ]\Ir. 
Pond took possession. The house of Mr. John Connor and 
those of Anthony Stowe, Henry Miles and William Coggeshall 
were among the older residences, and that of Mr. David ]\Iiles, 
of more modern construction, were all standing sixty or more 
years ago. Mr. AVilliam IMerwin owned and occupied the 
house now occupied by his granddaughter, and in a small 
weather-beaten house that stood on the same plot facing the 
lane, lived another of the retired mariners, Capt. Stephen Trow- 
bridge, who before had managed the hostelry on Broad Street, 
already mentioned. Where now is the fine residence of Mr, 
Merritt ]\Ierwin, then stood that of his grandfather, Merritt 
Merwin. 

Passing the Mill Bridge and Causeway, we come to Old 
Field Lane and find the residence of Mr. Marcus Merwin, whose 
son and grandson now reside there. The house appears the 
same now as then. Here on the opposite side of the street 
may be seen the well with its old-time wellsweep, and nearby 
a large stone with a hollow in its upper surface, said to have 



38 

been used by the Indians for pounding their corn. Many 
evidences are found in this vicinity of the extended use of this 
section by the Indians as a resort for fishing and hunting. 
Arrow-heads continue to be founds clam and oyster shells are 
ploughed up, and much that indicates that it was a favored 
spot. Farther along, the old Buckingham place, now the prop- 
erty of Mr. George AVilcox, was then the home of Mr. Daniel 
Buckingham, and the house stands upon the site of an old 
Indian burial place, while it is believed that the lane either 
dedicated or projected, runs through to the Pond Point Road 
near which it was called Mud Lane. No definite boundary 
now exists, and certainly no habitation has been known along 
its path. Coming then to the Pond Point Road on the corner 
of the Woodmont was the residence of Mr. Carrington Mer- 
win and family. The daughters were quite popular among the 
young people of their day and soon were taken to homes of 
their own, and the old people dying, the place while yet stand- 
ing has fallen into decay. . No other house is met with along 
that road until at the intersection of Welch's Lane we find the 
former residence of Mr. Miles Merwin, the father of Mrs. 
George Piatt, now of Green Street. Farther on, on the opposite 
side of the street, is the small schoolhouse for that district Pass- 
ing on to the settlement of Pond Point proper, the older resi- 
dences are little changed, but the inroads of transient dwellers 
threaten to obliterate all the ancient landmarks. As the road- 
way from Mr. Miles Merwin 's place to that of Mr. Nehemiah 
Clark's was and is uninhabited, it may be seen today as then. 



CHAPTER VI. 



From the corner at Mr. Carrington Merwin's following 
the Woodmoiit or Burwell's Farm road, the first house seen 
was and is that of I\Ir. Asabel Clark, which is yet held by 
some member of the family. We meet no other until arriving 
at the top of the hill. On the left hand side then stood the 
house that was at one time the residence of Mr. Samuel Eells, 
from whom is derived the name Eells' Hill. This family and 
the Burwells intermarried and both families were in Colonial 
times connected with the civil and military history of the Col- 
ony, the last of the family to occnjDy the house having been a 
soldier of the Kevolution. About sixty years ago it was the 
residence of a man named Jones. Only the cellar now remains 
to mark the site. 

At the foot of the hill we come to the beginning of the 
Burwell's Farms Settlement which may better be described by 
one better acquainted. 

Following the old road from Indian River Bridge west 
near the railroad, we notice the house of Mr. Baldwin Fowler, 
which has since been moved across to New Haven Avenue and 
is now the residence of Mr. Hatfield. The house of Mr. Jonas 
Buckingham has recently been moved a short distance east 
but is not much changed. It is now occupied by Mr. Herman 
Boeder. The Charles Buckingham, John Buckingham and 
Ephraim Curtis houses that are yet standing, completed all 
the houses in that section south of the railroad. The old Dick- 
inson house in which lived John Lines and family was one of 
the early houses within the palisades, and was a fair represen- 
tation of the larger houses of the early settlement. It stood 
very near where is now the entrance to the ball grounds, a 
few rods north of the railroad facing the old road from the old 
Catholic Church building to Buckingham street, since closed. 
What is now the home of Mr. Charles Wilhelmi was then the 
residence of Mr. Harvey Eells and family. One son yet lives 
in Fair Haven. Until the advent of the Irish in our town in 
considerable numbers, no other house with the exception of 



40 

that of Capt.. "Dick' ' Oviatt was on either side of that street. 

Between Mr. Eells' and that of Mr. Piatt's shop, which 
faced Gulf Street and stood on rear of the lot now owned and 
occupied by IMr. Albert Nettleton, Capt. "Dick's" house stood 
quite near the cemetery and was one of those recently demol- 
ished by the Cemetery Association in cleaning their grounds 
along Gulf Street. From the corners near Fowler's Mill and 
passing under the bridge on the easterly side of Prospect Street, 
we first find the house of Deacon Plarvey Mallory, the same 
now o-wned by Mr. Edward Mallory, a grandson, and at the 
brow of the hill that of Mr. Nathan Fowler, the father of Mr. 
Mark Fowler, who is yet a resident of Milford. There has 
been but little change in the appearance of either. 

The house of David L. Baldwin, Esq. (this is the site of 
Mr. Peter Prudden's house) that in which now lives his daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Charlotte Nettleton, whose husband, Mr. Louis Net- 
tleton,, a veteran of the Civil War, did not long survive its 
close, Mr. Sydney Buckingham's place, since that of JMr. Henry 
Clark, and that of Mr. Galpin Iligby, now the home of Mr. 
Harry Bryan, a grandson, remain much the same as in early 
days. 

The house and store of Mr. Nathan Fenn, though yet stand- 
ing, have been much enlarged and are now tlie same in which 
Mr. Gregory lives and conducts his business. Next on Cherry 
Street stood two houses of similar appearance in which lived 
the Ferris brothers, Louis and Shadrack. One of them is yet 
standing. Where now is the row farther along, then stood 
the carriage factory of the Ferris Brothers, in which they did 
a thriving business until it was destroyed by fire more than 
fifty years ago. The house in Avhich Mrs. ]\Iorris now resides 
was that of Mr. William Smith, who went away from Milford 
more than sixty years ago, and it was afterwards occupied by 
Mr. AVilliam Durancl, a well-known citizen of the town at that 
time. 

The house of Mr. James Kilpatrick, like that of ]\Ir. Smith 
on the one side and of Mr. Curtis Peck on the other, has pre- 
served the same general appearance. Mr. Benjamin Sanford's 
place may have had additions, but the main building has re- 
tained its original form. Mr. Bela Bradley's p'ace was that 
which is adjoining the entrance to the cemetery, but tho house 
has been remodelled though no radical change in its size and 



41 

proportions is noted. Mr. John Sanford then occupied a moa- 
erate sized house between Mr. Bradley's and Mr. Elijah Bald- 
win's, which is presumed to be yet standing, but of which the 
writer has lost the identity. I\fr. Baldwin's house was that 
in which now resides Mr. Nettleton and has preserved well its 
original form. JMr. Jonah Piatt was then residing in tlie house 
now occupied by ]\Ir. Albert Nettleton and family. Mrs. Net- 
tleton was a member of the ^lan^illc family who purchased the 
property from j\Ir. Piatt when he removed to Broad Street 
where he had purchased the property of Mrs. Miles Davidson. 
About 1852 a brother of Mrs. Nettleton 's gave his life to the 
service of his country. George INFanville, though young in 
years, had iimde many friends wlio imiuriied liis early depar- 
ture. 

Where uoav stands the house erected l)y Air. Samuel Blake 
stood a lai'ge old-fasiiiouvnl house then occupied by Mr. and 
Mrs. Stephenson. The children of that day now living may 
recall the startling vocabulary of Nancy Stephenson's p;)ll par- 
rot which attracted so many to its locality. Mr. George Inger- 
soU then oAvned the property where yet stands the large house 
first met with as we pass out on the old turnpike. The Ebeu- 
ezer Downs place Avith its massive fence posts attracted atten- 
tion from the passers-l)y. Pei-haps the removal of the fence 
has been the principal change effected. A small house, then the 
residence of -Mr. John Portei-, and since that of JMr. Edward 
JMooney, and the Bartlett residence at the parting of the roads, 
completed the residences on that side of the turni)ike within the 
town limits. The house of JMr. Elias Clark first met with on 
the loAver road, and that of Capt. Isbell, noAV occupied by Mr. 
Carle, are little changed. The saAvmill near the bridge was a 
typical structure of the ramshackle collection then constituting 
such plants. It has recently been destroyed by fire. The 
milldam and the bridge Avere a quaint reminder of utility versus 
display. Passing the bridge on the right hand near the AA'ater 
stood a medium sized house in Avhicli Mr. Theodore Pike lived 
AAdth his family for a short time, and farther on at the left 
was the residence of Mr. Chauncey Isbell, since OAAaied by the 
late John Guyer. Mr. John Lines not much later took up his 
residence farther doAA^ Old Gate Lane. Taking the left hand 
road after crossing the bridge at ''the Quarry" on the left 
Avas an old type story and half house, the residence of Mr. 



42 

Abram Marks, and yet farther on, also on the left, a similar 
house, though painted white in distinction from that of Mr. 
Marks, which was red, where resided another of our few for- 
eign-born residents, Mr. Franklin, the only remaining member 
of whose family in town is Miss Ella Franklin of "Wharf Street. 
Perhaps a small house on farther, the residence of Mr. Pardee, 
was beyond the town limits, as certainly were the house and 
brick yard of Eliakim Fenn, yet farther on at the left 
of the road back to the turnpike coming west the house of Mr. 
Richard Piatt, a small house since owned by Mr. Martin Hickey 
and the residence of Mr. Stephen Gunn, the home of the late 
John De Garmo and the house now standing on the point of land 
at the junction of Governor's Avenue and the turnpike in 
which lived a family named Hopper, complete the list in that 
part of the town, and each of which are yet in evidence. On 
the corner of Governor's Avenue and Cherry Street was the 
residence of Mr. Frederick Dayton, a foreman in the employ 
of the Ferris Brothers. The house was the late home of Mr. 
Elias Bradley, who with his wife met an untimely death in the 
trolley disaster at Peck's Mills, Stratford. The building has 
since been removed and now faces Governor's Avenue, and the 
residence of Mr. and Mrs. Van Vliet now occupies the former 
site. Mr. William Glenney's residence, later that of Mr. 
Andrew Clark, is yet standing, as is that of Mr. Samuel Green, 
now the residence of Mr. Gregory. The Anthony Bristol place 
was remodelled by Mr. John Strong, the father of Mrs. Caroli, 
and has now become the home of Mr. Almon Clark. Mr. Wil- 
liam Bristol's house and that of Mr. Andrew French where live 
respectively Mr. William Clark and Mr. Emmons Chase, are 
not greatly changed. The old house of Stephen Somers was 
a square gable roofed house of dingy appearance, and was, 
very fortunately for the neighborhood, destroyed by fire, as 
the house and its occupants for the most part were undesirable 
acquisitions just preceding its destruction. "Squire" Strong's 
house, now the residence of Mr. D. Piatt, has had no radical 
departure from its original design. The old Second Congre- 
gational building that stood near the line of the Miles home- 
stead was used as a paint shop by the Beach brothers who 
had their main buildings near the river side where the bridge 
crosses from Governor's Avenue to Maple Street. On the 
south side of the roadway the blacksmith's shop was a single 



43 

stoiy, rather long brick building, and opposite at the brink 
of the river with a flume beneath, stood a two-story frame 
building with an ell running eastward in which most of the 
work was done. A small story and half house stood just back 
from where the old well now is seen, in which lived at one time 
Mr. JMichael Barney and his family. It must be remembered 
that about this time many families of Irish people became res- 
idents of the town, so that it may be confusing to say that there 
were almost no foreign-born residents here, and continue to 
mention such in various parts of the town. It was perhaps 
about 1850 that the railroad which had but recently begun to 
carry passengers through our town, found it necessary to add 
to its carrying capacity by double tracking. The famine in 
Ireland had driven many to seek relief in other lands, and many 
of the laborers employed by the contractors found a permanent 
home here, and from that beginning has grown a very fine rep- 
resentation of the Irish-American citizenship among us. Not 
all those who came about that time followed the majority on 
railroad, but obtained other employment and have made homes 
for themselves, as have their descendants, many of whom are 
among our most respected citizens. 

Coming back to our subject, the old church building before 
mentioned had been so changed in the interior that the lower 
floor was perhaps more of a storehouse than a workshop, Avhile 
a second floor had been put in and the painting of carriages 
was mostly done upon it, or rather in the story which it formed. 
The Miles place, which is believed originally to have been the 
residence of Mr. Isaac Miles, was about sixty years ago the 
home of Miss Diana Miles, one of his descendants. It was 
this Mr. ]\Iiles who had erected for his daughter, Mrs. Samuel 
Wales, the house that until recently stood on what are now the 
school grounds and known as the Train house. It had been 
the home of several clergymen in turn, besides the Rev. Mr. 
Wales. Mr. Lockwood in 1784 to 1796. Rev. Asa M. Train 
was the last of the clergymen who occupied the house, which 
he did for many years until his death. During the War of the 
Revolution in 1776 Mr. Wales served as chaplain in the army. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Again returning to North Street, a small building near the 
street at the northerly extremity of the Miles plot may some 
time have served as a store, but served as a dwelling for some 
of the people employed about the Miles place at the time of 
which we treat. The old house which has recently received 
much attention at the instance of the late Mr. Anson Downs, 
was the old home of Mr. Thomas Buckingham, and it was Mr. 
Downs' intention to preserve the exterior, at least, as near its 
original form and appearance as he might. The present home 
of Mrs. John W. Buckingham was that of her parents, and sixty 
years ago Mr. Louis F. Baldwin, her father, conducted a shoe 
store on the corner of the plot. In Colonial days it is said 
that Governor Robert Treat lived in a house that formerly stood 
on that plot. (It was the plot allotted to Mr. Edmund Tapp, 
Mrs. Treat's father) and Governor's Lane, now Governor's 
Avenue, took its name from that circumstance. Mr. Sheldon 
Burns lived in a medium sized smooth boarded house near the 
present residence of Mrs. James Iligby that is perhaps yet 
standing. No other houses were on that side of the street. 
The houses of Mr. Lewis Welch, Mr. Henry Law and Mr. Lucius 
Porter may yet be seen. It is the opinion of the writer that a 
district schoolhouse at one time stood on the right of Governor's 
Avenue as one goes from Cherry Street, but he is not certain 
that his memory served him well in this respect. The houses in 
which lived Mr. James Mitchell and that of Mr. Clark Smith, 
and farther along that of Mr. James Burns, and finally that of 
the brothers Bailey, completed the number upon that street. 
Crossing the bridge to the residence of Deacon ]\Iarshall and 
opposite to that of Mr. Dennis Beach, and following south tlie 
home of Mr. Canfield and of Mrs. Josiah Buckingham, little 
change is noted. Where now is the residence of Mr. J. L. 
Miles then stood the large red house of Mr. Pond Strong. It 
was much such another as the one IMr. Downs has refurbished 
on North Street and Governor's Avenue, set well back from 



45 

the street and with little shrubbery in front and a blue stone 
paved walk to the old-fashioned entrance, it was indeed a re- 
minder of the olden times. The building on the corner, now 
the residence of Mr. Samuel Smith, was then a combined store 
and dwelling, and whether then kept by Mr. Smith's father or 
Mr. William Piatt, each of whom occupied the store at different 
times, the writer is at a loss tO' remember. However, except 
that it has had the store front changed, it is much the same in 
appearance. The bridge over the river, while of modern steel 
construction, is not startingly changed. The old seminary 
building, a square building with its pointed roof surmounted 
by a small bell tower, stood for many years on the rocky foun- 
dation beneath the shade of a large elm near the present resi- 
dence of ]\rr. William Bush. Little change is noted on that 
side of the street, except the closing of the well-known store 
of Mr. Anon Clark and its new mission as a dispensary of the 
gospel. Where now is the residence of Mrs. E. P. Smith stood 
a story and half weather-beaten house almost hidden in front by 
cinnamon rose bushes, in which then lived Mr. William Peck, 
wlio later erected the house now occupied by his daughter, Mrs. 
Nathan Clark, on North Avenue. The house was originally 
tlicit of Mr. Peacocke, from which iMaple Street was at first 
called Peacock Lane. It was demolished when Mr. Harvey 
Minor came into possession and built the present house. Mr. 
Selah Strong lived in a large house on what is now the vacant 
lot next adjoining Mrs. Smith's place and now a part of her 
property. Mr. Samuel Beach then occupied the house on the 
corner in which now lives Mr. George Munson. Mr. Luke Mal- 
lett lived in the house now the home of his granddaughter, Mrs. 
Fields, and his son Lewis, her father, lived in a smaller house 
on the same plot, which having been moved farther up the 
street was for a time occupied by Mr. David Durand and later 
became the property of Mr. D. L. Clarke. Mr. Luke Mallett 
was the proprietor of a meat market near the Tavern on Broad 
Street and had his abbatoir near his residence. Mr. Samuel 
Durand lived with his parents on the opposite of the street, 
where the widow and children continue to reside. The houses 
from that of Mr. D. N. Clarke can better be described by Mr. 
G. Frank Smith or D. L. Clarke than by me. Following 
down from Mr. D. N. Clarke's house towards High Street we 
find first the story and half house of Deacon Nettleton at the 



46 

corner of Peacock Lane and the barn farther down the said 
lane. The writer is of the opinion that both are now gone. 
Then followed two houses belonging to Mr. David C. Smith, 
the grandfather of Mr. George J. Smith, one of which about 
that time was occupied by Mr. Samuel Eells and the other by 
Mr. Smith and wife. The barn of Mr. Stephen Gunn stood 
away from the street but near Mr. Smith's line. Mr. Gunn's 
residence was that in which Mr. Harry Merwin now resides. 
The John Carrington place on the triangular plot has since 
been the home of Mr. Alphonzo Smith. The old type of house 
in which then lived Deacon John Benjamin completes the 
houses in that section. Following the road towards High 
Street which we cross and enter the way to Gunn Street, on 
the right hand was a two-story front house, and on the left an 
old house but of less elevation, the first that of Mr. Elisha Peck 
which he demolished when he built the one in which he spent 
his remaining days, now the residence of Mr. Proctor ; the other 
that of Mr. Amos Baldwin which was taken down and none 
replaced it. From the First Congregational Church on "West 
Main Street next to the house of Mr. Samuel Smith which has 
been mentioned, was the shoe shop of Mr. Leonard Davidson, 
in which was run the first sewing machine brought into Mil- 
ford. The operator was Caroline McCoy, who later became 
the wife of Mr. AVilliam Bush. The residence of Mr. Howe 
Davidson and that of Mr. William Miles and Doctor Carring- 
ton 's old homestead, are yet standing and give their own ac- 
count of themselves. The schoolhouse that stood on the com- 
mon at the turn of the road is a thing of the past, but having 
seen one of the district schoolhouses of that day will suffice 
for all. The "little red schoolhouse" usually mentioned in 
connection with the rural districts of New England will need 
to change its complexion in Milford, wliere only white ones 
were ever seen by the writer until the recent Central School 
building erection. 

Colonel Stephen Ford's house occupies its old stand, and 
his son, James, a veteran of the Civil War, appears to have 
inherited the father's bent in that line, and still occupies the 
old house. The old house of Mr. Samuel Glenney, a story and 
half house, many years ago was supplanted by the one now 
standing. Mr. Dan Peck lived in a small house adjoining the 
ground of Mr. Pinneo, which is yet standing. From the lower 



47 

end of ''New Broad," now High Street, Doctor Allen's place, 
minus a large barn that used to be a feature then, and the 
addition of an ell to the house, is not much different except 
that there was then no building on that side of the street to 
obstruct his view of Broad Street. In the house opposite, then 
a square house with a gabled roof with the eaves at front and 
back, had been living the family of Mr. Charles Piatt, and it 
was here that Howard Piatt first saw the light of day. Per- 
haps sixty years ago a family bearing the name of Weeks 
occupied it. AAHien it became the home of ]\rr. Street, father 
of Mrs. Hutchinson, it was remodelled and took its present 
form. l\Irs. Street was a daughter of Dr. Hull Allen and died 
when her daughter came, and the home was broken up. Mr. 
Horace I\Iallett had only recently built on High Street after 
selling out his former place to the railroad company, and the 
house in which Mr. AVilliam I\litchell now lives was nearly 
hidden in a forest of trees. It was then the home of ]\Ir. Ralph 
Augur and family, of whom none now remain as residents of 
Milford, though IMr. AVilliam Augur, a grandson, loves to meet 
his old acquaintances here as opportunity offers. "Where are 
now the grounds of I\Ir. James T. Patterson, was then a rather 
high knoll on Avhich grew some hickory trees, and sloping to- 
wards the street ended in a bank several feet above the road- 
way. The bushes on the opposite side of the street were some- 
thing of an obstacle to the boy seeking hickory nuts from a 
tree that grew a few feet away from the street. The ground 
being low was also wet, but by introducing a system of drain- 
age it was reclaimed as meadow land as now seen. Mr. John 
Minor and Mr. Henry ]\Ierwin occupied the houses next above, 
where is now the entrance to Lauralton Hall, and the addition 
of a veranda to the house of I\Ir. I\Ierwin is the greatest change 
to either. The house of ]\Ir. Feehan (Mr. Thaddeus Nettleton's 
house) was occupied by some ladies, one of whom, if the writer 
is not mistaken, afterwards became the wife of Mr. William 
Brooks. The house is not much changed in outward appear- 
ance. The house of Mr. Wilson Plumb and that of Mv. Everett 
Smith are little changed. Crossing the street, the tirst house 
above that of Mr. Horace Mallett was that of Mrs. Fairchild, 
a widow, the same as has since been the home of Mr. AA^illiam 
Davidson's family. Mr. David Ford's, now occupied by Mr. 
and Mrs. Fisher, and the former house of Mr. Luke Nettleton, 



48 

both now standing, and the shop and store of Mr. Samuel 
Glenney, now transformed into a dwelling, complete the list 
on that section of High Street. Crossing West IMain Street 
on the corner of High on Mr. Charles Baldwin's plot stood a 
small store in wliich Mr. Baldwin sold groceries, and the second 
floor was used as a shoe shop. The residence was the same 
now occupied by his son, Mr. Charles W. Baldwin, another 
Civil War veteran, in which service this neighborhood was well 
represented. Sydney Plumb, Harvey and Henry Nettleton, 
Samuel and George Glenney, James Ford, Charles AA^. Baldwin, 
George Hine, Dennis Baldwin, George T. Peck, Charles Ford, 
Albert Plumb, all in that school district and near neighbors, 
having volunteered for the service. The Wheelers Farms dis- 
trict was also well represented by David Benjamin, Joseph R. 
Clark, Almon, Nathan and Samuel, his brothers, George Rog- 
ers. Hezekiah P. Smith, James and George Baird, and perhaps 
others from that district giving their services, of whom George 
Beard became a brigadier general and has within a few years 
been laid at rest in our cemetery. 

Returning from this digression, we find on High Street on 
the left the house of Marcus Baldwin, yet standing, and on the 
opposite but a few rods below, an old type two story and 
gable house in which lived ]\Ir. George Hine and family. The 
house was razed when Mr. Rodgers Hine erected the one now 
standing on its site. Just before we reach the common at the 
junction above on the left hand side was a medium-sized, 
weather-beaten house then occupied by Mr. Thomas Moore, a 
north of Ireland gardener, who was quite a popular represen- 
tative of that art and a respected citizen of the town. The 
house has since been demolished. Mr. George Baldwin, a son 
of Mr. Amos Baldwin, before mentioned, built and occupied the 
house next above which faces the common at the junction of 
the two streets. On the continuation of High Street opposite 
the short connecting street before mentioned, was the house of 
Mr. Merritt Ford, father of General George H. Ford, in which 
Mr. Charles Smith has taken up his residence. It describes 
itself. The houses of Mr. James Benjamin and the little red 
shop below on the same side of the street, together Avitli the 
barn above the house, and a tan barn beyond the brook, all 
represented the improvements of the elder Mr. Benjamin, father 
of James and several brothers, who was yet living sixty years 



49 

ago, though too aged for active labor. The houses of IMr. 
Luther Benjamin and Mr. Roger Hine, Joel Hine, Theophulus 
Miles and Nathan Gunn, all yet standing, completed the list in 
that direction until the Ilousatonic River was reached. On 
the road to Wheelers Farms the first house on the left was that 
of Mrs. Job Hine, and on the right that of her father, Mr. Lewis 
Munson. The former yet remains about the same, but the 
latter has given place to the recently erected house of Mrs. Hel- 
wig. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Passing on we come to the house of Mr. William Ben- 
jamin, still the residence of some of the family. On the road 
from there across to the head of High Street was an old cellar 
where once stood a house in which once lived Mr. Levi Somers, 
and in which the mother of the writer was born more than one 
hundred years ago, in 1804. No other house is known to have 
ever stood on that street. Above the before-mentioned house 
of Mr. AVilliam Benjamin the writer will leave the description 
to those better informed. From High Street on West Main 
Street after passing the residence of Mr. Charles Baldwin, we 
find on the right hand first the house of Mr. David W. Smith, 
which is yet standing. Crossing Gunn Street, on the corner 
stood a two-story and gable roof house, the earliest tenant of 
which the writer is able to recall was Mr. Charles Munson. 
The house was taken down when Mr. Charles Hyatt built that 
in Avhich he resides. Mr. Timothy Starr had a small house 
near the street on the property wliere now stand the houses of 
Charles Peterson and the heirs of Uncle Timothy. IMr, 
Charles Oviatt's house is yet standing as it then was. IMr. 
Clark Ford then lived where now is Mr. Frank IMunson's res- 
idence, and ran a store on the same plot which was destroyed 
by fire. The writer is not certain whether the house is the 
same, but it is similar. Mr. Curtis Oviatt occupied an old 
house on the corner where his daughters later replaced it with 
a new one which is now standing. Passing the street that 
leads to Ford Town, we come to the old Joseph Peck home- 
stead. Sixty years ago there was a plain two-story brick house 
with gabled roof on the plot in which lived the family of Capt. 
Cornelius Peck, a descendant of the original owner. The usual 
barns and outbuildings of a farmer's homestead stood near. 
At the top of the hill was an old frame house belonging to the 
same estate. A medium sized house next was perhaps that 
of George L. Clark, but since at one time was occupied by 
Thomas Lewis and family. ]\Ir. Lewis Beers' house is yet 



51 

standing. The writer has a slight idea of the location of the 
other houses in that locality, but would not undertake to ex- 
actly describe them, either then or now, and there are others 
better fitted to write up all the outlying district which it is 
desirable should be done. To write a history of the town was 
not conceived to be the purpose of this paper, but to record 
such matter as might occur to the citizens as worthy of pre- 
serving ; but as much early history as may be gathered and put 
at the use of any interested person or persons would certainly 
be prized. That persevering student of history and genealogy, 
the late IMr. Nathan G. Pond, certainly deserved that his mem- 
ory should be honored by an effort to carry on his work as far 
as we may be able, and the family have very generously placed 
in our library much of the collection that he had been able to 
get together. If every one could give their own story of the 
happenings and as unich of liistory as they may possess in rela- 
tion to our town and its people, the writer presumes that a very 
interesting and valuable collection could be made. AA^ithin the 
recollection of many now living one w^ould have experienced an 
almost complete transformation not only in mechanics, arts and 
sciences, but in religious teachings, in its means of social inter- 
course and a knowledge of foreign countries and peoples. We 
are surprised at the revelations as set forth by travellers in 
lands hitherto little understood. In our own land, where sixty 
years ago were only the haunts of the wild beasts and their 
almost equally wild human co-partners of the forest, are now 
established homes of culture and wealth, stately buildings and 
all that goes to make for twentieth century progress. Let us 
then consider that the children of today wall have an interest 
in that wdiich now may be put on record relating to even a few 
years back. It is with a true sense of my own want of the 
ability to carry out purposes of such a desirable end, that I 
submit such as jotted down from my own recollection, and feel- 
ing that in many respects corrections may be made by others 
to bring the text nearer the truth, and such corrections should 
most certainly be made. From the beginning here made, it is 
hoped that it will prove an incentive to others, not only to add 
to but to correct such errors as may be found in this my crude 
effort. Although I have made many requests of others to 
write vip something that has passed under their own observa- 
tion or been told them by creditable relations, as yet there has 



52 

been 110 response, and while I have no desire to make misstate- 
ments, I sincerely hope that a criticism of this pajier^ if I may 
believe that any will read it, will help to bring out some of the 
knowledge that others possess. 

In the foregoing story I find that only a mention of Green 
Street has been made without describing the buildings upon it 
sixty years ago. Mr. David Peck was among the first to build 
on that street, followed by Mr. Jared Merwiii, Mr. Willis Peck 
and Messrs. Benedict Peck and Charles Wheeler, all before the 
recollection of the writer, JMrs. Martha Stowe and Mr. Henry 
Cornwall and Capt. and Mrs. Frederick Stowe in 1852. As 
these houses are all standing I will not undertake to describe 
them. 

Pond Street was open only to the depth of Mr. Henry 
Cornwall's plot, Mr. Cornwall having at the rear of his lot a 
small shoe shop to which access was then had from Pond Street, 
so named from Governor Pond, who at one time could have 
entered upon his own ground at Broad Street and never have 
left it until he reached Seaside Lane opposite Meadowside Lane, 
embracing all the property on both sides of the present Center 
Street except that of the Charles Merwin estate and that of 
George Briwstol, on both sides of Pond Street to the harbor, 
Union Street and Read Street and Rogers Avenue (except at 
the lower end of Rogers Avenue, where were perhaps three or 
four acres owned by Mr. Charles Baldwin) and about the same 
width as the Read Street property, right through to Seaside 
Lane. After the discovery of gold in California and the rush 
began to the new Eldorado, an expedition was planned to go 
from New Haven and vicinity, and the ship Isaac Bell was char- 
tered or purchased to sail around Cape Horn to the "Promised 
Land." Several from Milford joined the company and sailed 
with it. There was then very crude methods of conveying 
news as compared with Twentieth Century achievement, and 
many months passed before we might learn the result. His- 
tory has taught us in a general way what the early days were 
like. Among those who went from Milford were Charles and 
Samuel Tibbals, Charles and Lewis Clark, Theodore Green, 
Henry K. Stowe, Sherman Crofut, and probably others whose 
names the writer cannot now recall, only a part of whom ever 
came back. Charles Tibbals, who was the father of Mr. Albert 
C. Tibbals, now of Milford, 1912, never set foot upon the land 



53 

of his dreams, but died as the vessel was entering the harbor of 
San Francisco. His brother lived a few years there, but never 
returned. Charles and Lewis Clark and Theodore Green came 
home again and lived many years. The others have died with- 
out ever seeing again the home they left with such bright 
golden prospects. About the beginning of the last half of the 
nineteenth century, ]\Iessrs. Elisha Flagg and Nathan A. Bald- 
win, under the stjde of Flagg & Baldwin, erected a factory 
and began here the manufacture of straw hats, and from a 
small beginning the business took on gigantic proportions, as 
then viewed, and hundreds of employees thronged our streets 
outside of working hours, and not a few of our present resi- 
dents can assign their presence here to that intiuence. Miss 
Mary Mills, whom we all knew so well as ]\Irs. Green, was 
induced to enter the employ as an experienced and skillful 
teacher in the art of foi-ming the hats from the imported braid, 
and continued in the employ for many years. j\Iany attempts 
were made to supersede hand sewing of braid by machinery, 
and at one time there was a veritable curiosity shop in a part 
of the attic there, but not until Mr. C. F. Bosworth introduced 
his blind stitch machine for that purpose, did any practical 
success result. The Bosworth machine was a simple but 
effective variety of the Singer machine of that time, and the 
Bosworth attachments might have been with equal facility used 
on any one of a number of machines then or now in vogvie, and 
were not superseded because they did not do what they in- 
tended, but because it was found that there was no real de- 
mand for their product. This was not true when a prejudice 
against machine work sought any plausible excuse for denud- 
ing it of its laurels. Straw hats had been made by hand and 
the stitches were presumed to be concealed, and when the sew- 
ing machine became an assured fact, after an uphill strug- 
gle against that before-mentioned prejudice a visible stitch 
upon the exposed surface would never have been tolerated, and 
a machine to do such work Avould never have lived long enough 
to have donned long dresses. But such a machine was made 
a success by an effective appliance to conceal the stitch and 
the bridge was crossed. No one now questions the form of 
stitch after the finished product leaves the factory. The straw 
hat industry for a time almost entirely displaced shoemaking 
by hand and no considerable restriction of the industry ap- 



54 

peared until the factory method was introduced. It is believed 
that during the Civil War there was a spasmodic effort to again 
produce footwear for the soldiers, but it was only a temporary 
revival produced by the excitement of those strenuous days, 
and collapsed ultimately when the stimulant was exhausted. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The crude methods of those early days served their purpose, 
and as the human system takes on strength and stature as 
years are added, so also does the advancement in science and 
the arts give adequate promise as time wanes. A¥e educate 
our children for their work in life, and only as that education 
is productive in after years will it prove a success. That suc- 
cess may not be apparent to its author, but like Christopher 
Columbus, who never lived to know that he had discovered a 
continent,' the world may profit by the achievement when its 
author has passed beyond earthly fame. The spiral screw that 
would be altogether indispensable, gave little benefit to its 
producer. The usual number of mechanical motions is re- 
garded as six and only three of these primary, and perhaps 
even two of these might be considered as one, viz., the lever 
and pulley. But the combination and adaptation are unlnn- 
ited. Sixty years ago a community lived much wdthin itself 
and was more nearly self-supporting. As the Israelites of 
old wandered with their flocks to pastures new when the 
old ceased to adequately supply the demand, so now we figur- 
atively pass from one area to another in the progress of 
science and art. Elasticity in its true definition 
can meet the demands of progress. We must expand or reach 
out for what the world has to offer while yet we have the 
property of resuming our own position. The new rests upon 
the foundation of the old, but the Yule log of our fathers is 
now used to generate power to drive the wheels of progress. 
The flint and steel have been replaced by the electric spark, the 
saddle horse by the limousine. Miles Standish with his 
dozen followers served as the standing army of the Pilgrims, 
while fifty years ago it reqmred 2.700,000 men to put down one 
insurrection. Two or three small packets sufficed to bring 
our supplies from abroad sixty years ago, while today a fully 
equipped four-track steam railroad is required to compass the 
traffic of a part of New England, of which we demand a proper 



56 

proportion, while possibly as much is brought into our town by 
trolley express and private conveyance as would have furnished 
our fathers wdth a complete supply. Not only have changes- 
been made in mechanics, transportation and communication, 
but there has also come a great social change. Tne community 
spirit that governed society sixty years ago has given way to a 
spirit of rivalry, the age of caste, the desire to be 
or appear a little above the average citizen by reason of some 
special act of an ancestor or of having been initiated into an 
ironclad class with its mysterious grips and signs. These 
societies have their sphere, but where is the old neighborly 
feeling that interested itself in the welfare of all? Under the 
old regime perhaps we put a high estimate upon tiie qualities 
of ouc public men, but in most cases they merited our esteem. 
Who 'of us ever doubted the sincerity of such a man as David 
L. Baldwin, for instance, whose signature is attached to so 
many legal documents in the public archives? He was a wise 
and earnest counselor, whose aim appeared to be to merit the 
confidence reposed in him. It is true political strife was per- 
haps as conspicuous as today, but it was open warfare and a 
victory w^as complete. Mr. Baldwin was not alone in the names 
whose memory w^e revere. I can recall the names of Selah Strong, 
William Durand, Samuel B. Gunn, William Pond, Charles H. 
Pond, Nathan Tomlinson, DeLuzerno Hubbell, Amos Ford, John 
K. Bristol, Treat Clark, Amos Clark, Pond Strong, Esquire 
Strong, and there are many others whom I do not now recall, 
but all men whom we held in respect as public guardians. We 
looked upon the clergy as men of weight and influence in the 
community from all of w^hom we might seek advice or counsel 
and whose wisdom was undoubted. Neighbor vied with neigh- 
bor in kindly acts. We knew little of what was transpiring 
outside and our community was our world. Barter or ex- 
change was common. Fish and clams were plentiful and when 
one went to the shore he or she remembered those who were 
deprived of that privilege and shared with them. Vegetables 
were freely exchanged and such little attentions as might be 
afforded were given with pleasure. The social gatherings were 
truly pleasing events where equality meant equal friendship for 
all. The old-time quilting party, followed by the old-time 
supper, was not only a pleasing event in its day, but it has left 
its impress upon the memory of those who were witnesses of 



57 

the good feeling that prevailed. Hard cider, apples, hickory 
nuts and raince pies were often an accompaniment of an even- 
ing out, and I must confess that the emptied glasses in the 
morning had a rather queer smell for cider in any stage of 
existence. Barn raising, corn husking, election, donations for 
the IMinister, picnics, boat sailing, and training days, Wash 
Day for the Fire Company when tliey got out to test their 
engine and drill for practical work, working out highway taxes, 
pitching quoits, playing checkers or dominoes, and numerous 
other pastimes were all reviewed in the village stores in the 
evening. Calico dresses and nankeen pantalets on the girls 
and patched trousers and short jackets on the boys was the 
rule and not the exception. In the "little red schoolhouse" 
(that we hear so much about but never saw in Milford with- .the 
single exception of the Academy on the rocky mound near the 
white bridge), I repeat, in the little red schoolhouse, which was 
invariably painted white with green shutters, could be seen 
evidence of the Yankee propensity for whittling in the complete 
carved surface of the desks and the plastered walls frescoed 
with spitballs that were never disturbed by those whose duty it 
was to whitewash the ceiling. Perhaps the following names 
have been dropped from the vocabulary of the twentieth cen- 
tury boy, but semilem, hooker, rooker, mumblepeg, old- 
gent, and jump-the-fence alternated with "one hole eat," 
"roll hole," "knock up and catch." Even an old offender 
like myself cannot recall the name by which our game of ball 
was known, in which two boys at the bat faced each other at a 
distance of perhaps fifty feet apart with a catcher behind each 
and all others in the field, and the catcher was also pitcher, and 
the ball served alternately to either batsman. A strike called 
for a run which meant an exchange of position of the batsmen 
with the chance of either being put out before gaining the plate, 
and also the striker being caught out on the fly. Baseball was 
played, but had less rules attending. Coasting and skating in 
the winter we believe belong to no particular era, but the form 
of skates and sleds used in those days has long become obsolete. 
Grocers did not then deliver their goods, nor did they take 
orders except at the store, but usually sold in larger quantities 
than now. Flour was mostly sold by the barrel, molasses and 
rum by the gallon, and other things in like proportion, and the 
state banks issued notes that might or might not represent their 



58 

face value, and every one was scrutinized and the "Bank Note 
Reporter" consulted before the bargain was consummated and 
the change returned, said change for the greater part being in 
Mexican coin or fractional part of a S'hilling, and a shilling 
might mean any one of several kinds, thus a "fourpence" had 
a value of six and one-quarter cents, which was one-half a York 
shilling or one-sixteenth of a dollar. The Yankee shilling was 
one-sixth of a dollar. In New York City the shilling was the 
standard, and a barrel of potatoes might be priced at 12 shil- 
lings or whatever might be the market value. Shoes worn by 
the ladies as late as 1862 (when the writer ceased for a while 
to observe the prevailing styles other than the regulation blue) 
were never of the ordinary pattern of high cut dress shoes that 
have been commonly worn since, but buskins and Congress 
gaiters were cut to about meet the joint at the ankle. Hoop- 
skirts came into use about the latter part of the fifties and vari- 
ous schemes were improvised to meet the requirements of fash- 
ion, first perhaps a single hoop of rattan at the hem of the skirt, 
then a strip of brass was used, but as the demand increased the 
steel manufacturers of the Naugatuck Valley began to produce 
a cloth covered hoop that was soon followed by the bringing 
out of a special tape into which the hoops might be run and by 
suitable clasps held in the desired position. Thus the hoop- 
skirt became a separate article of ladies' wearing apparel and 
kept its place for nearly or quite a decade. Shoes without 
heels were the rule for ladies' wear until after the middle of the 
nineteenth century, and bonnets were not replaced by hats until 
the "Bloomer" was introduced. This was a part of the Bloomer 
costume that it was sought to introduce about that time and 
consisted of a short-skirted dress and trousers yet known as 
bloomers, and a very broad brimmed, low-crown hat. The 
bloomer trousers were gathered at the ankle with a small ruf- 
fled edge below. The style never became popular, and the 
writer can remember having seen it Avorn by but one person. 
The hat, however, did become popular and was worn 
for many seasons. The trousers have found their proper 
sphere in the athletic world but in a modified form. Men 
wore the Wellington or top boot, and very generally for dress 
the silk tile or beaver hat. Embroidered or other fancy bosom 
shirts witli collars attached, either rolling or standing pattern, 
with either a stock or large handkerchief cravat. Silk velvet 



59 

vests and watches M'ith a ribbon about the neck for a guard. 
Fobs were worn on dress occasions and stem winding watches 
had yet to be produced. The breastpin had a head with some 
kind of setting and a bar perhaps V/g inches in length at the 
back of which near tlie extreme end was attached the catch for 
the holding pin. Coal burning stoves had ceased to be a nov- 
elty but not in general use, as wood was more plentiful and 
its use better understood. Pigs and chickens might be found 
on tlie premises of a large majority of householders, and in the 
winter a cellar liberally stocked with provisions, such as vege- 
tables, pork, hams, dried-beef, salt fish, apples, vinegar, cider, 
etc., and in the attic hanging to the rafters were "spareribs, " 
sausages, dried apples and bags of small fruits, bunches or 
herbs, hops and medicinal roots. The houses were not gen- 
erally heated except in the living room, but those blessed words, 
"The Lord tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," were then, as 
now, in His Holy Word, and the fertile brain of man had de- 
vised "The Old Warming Pan." I can yet imagine the com- 
forting assurance conveyed by the sight of that old comforter 
disappearing up the stairway and the fumes of fragrance of 
the live coals with the burning sugar sprinkled on them and 
tlie welcome call when each bed should be ready for occupancy. 
I can well remember sitting near the fire on the open hearth 
when the sap was driven from the ends of the hickory and the 
pleasing odors as it burned, but the most pleasing remembrance 
was the unbroken family circle of an old time Christian home. 
As I review the past in my mind's eye I can see the heads of 
families with whom I held friendly relations, not one of whom 
is living toda}^ T can see the line of fences weather-beaten and 
brown, perhaps, but the latch-string (figuratively speaking) al- 
ways out. I can see those gateways in the division fence, 
a sincere reminder that there could be no impassable barrier 
between neighbors. There was no thought then whether one's 
father came over with Noah in the Ark or had a boat of his 
own. It mattered little to what church one belonged except 
when the bells were ringing. A political opponent was not 
suspected of having horns and a cloven hoof. The general rush 
from the farm to the city had not then set in and farmers' sons 
grew up to be farmers as naturally as corn produced corn. The 
schools in summer were attended largely by girls and small 
boys, and in the winter term these were supplemented by the 



60 

boys of larger growth and in some instances of wild growth. 
The school hours were from nine to twelve and one till four, 
with a morning Saturday in which specialties prevailed. 
There were spelling matches, catechism, memorizing Bible 
verses, etc., but in the afternoon we were permitted 
to have a half holiday for doing up the chores, clam- 
ming or running errands for the neighbors whose gar- 
dens did not yield boys. The family who had any 
kind of a labor-saving machine or a servant in those days was 
rare, but temporary help was to be had almost for the asking. 
The dressmaker, like the old-time teacher, might be expected 
to "board around" and was engaged far ahead, though she was 
never married. Old Aunt Keziah with her litttle carpet bag 
swinging from her arm was always a welcome visitor, whether 
in her official capacity or as a dispenser of good cheer. The 
old three cent silver piece, or shad scale, as we sometimes called 
it, had stamped upon one of its sides three figure ones inside 
of a letter C, and it seems to me that I must have the same 
impression in plain view of others, for no matter how hard I 
worked dropping potatoes or corn or piling wood, my value for 
a half day seemed always to be three cents, for anything less, 
a doughnut or a piece of pie, but if I had all the pen-knives 
that were promised me I would have started a bargain counter. 



CHAPTER X. 



I have recently received a fine calendar from one of our new 
enterprises in town, and of course as an actor upon the stage 
at the time represented, "an old resident," I must needs criti- 
size, though in the main favorably. I must express a little 
doubt that the plant in the pot was really a Geranium, and take 
away altogether the kerosene lamp suspended from the ceiling. 
A "fluid lamp" burning a compound of spirits of turpentine 
and other ingredients I would willingly pass, or an oil lamp. 
If in a church or hall I could pass a camphene lamp, but I 
nmst draw the line at kerosene which had yet to be introduced. 
Wax candles were par excellence, the popular innovation when 
tallow candles were frowned upon, and the candlelabra were 
certainly such as might grace any table of today. The silver 
was sterling or its substitute was not a plate to imitate it, but 
of genuine undisguised pewter. The art of electro-plating 
came on later. Plating then was done by soldering thin rolled 
sheets of silver to a surface of baser metal that had been made 
very smooth beforehand, and pewter would not stand up under 
the necessary heat. Copper and brass ware was not then rolled 
or spun into the desired form without seam, but the edges were 
brought together and locked by "dovetails" and then "brazed" 
with a medium that fused at a lower temperature than the 
basic metal. The old "Dutch Oven" was made from tin, bent 
in cylindrical form but having an opening on one side with legs 
so attached as to present the open side to the fire or the hearth 
before which it was placed. It was usually about the length 
of an ordinary flour barrel and of somewhat smaller diameter 
and fitted with a shelf upon which the food to be baked was 
placed. The reflection of heat by the bright upper and lower 
surfaces of the tin served to bake in a very satisfactory manner. 
A modification of this oven made from flat plates and collapsible 
was offered to the soldiers during the war for the Union, but 
with all departments of a portable flat from kitchen to bedroom 
strapped to one person in addition to an ordinance and commis- 



62 

sary outfit, office fixtures and all. tlie offer was not accepted by 
anything like a majority vote. Rag carpets, if any, and braided 
mats of either rags or corn husks, were used for floor coverings 
with i^lain painted oilcloth on kitchen floors. A "spider" 
used in the kitchen was a frying pan with long legs that would 
stand firm over a bed of coals on the hearth. In the South a 
similar utensil was used, but deeper and having a flanged edge 
on the cover, so that while the vessel proper stood over the 
ciials, more coals might be carried on the lid so as to apply 
the heat more nearly even upon both sides of the food within. 
Baking of biscuit was often done in that way. The crane was 
suspended at one side of tlie fireplace, its beam extending nearly 
across, and from it by means of hooks, often adjustable, were 
hung the kettles. The spit was not much used within the rec- 
ollection of the writer, but was suspended from the center of 
the fireplace in such a manner that it might be readily turned 
about so that any or all sides of the roast impaled upon it might 
present itself evenly to the fire. Dripping pans probably 
served to catch the juices that dripped from the roast and 
served to baste from. Before the advent of the corn sheller 
the farmer boy used to sit upon the blade of a spade projecting 
over a tub or box, and by means of the sharp bit and the corn 
on the cob held at a proper angle the corn was so shelled with 
passable facility. ]\Iowing and reaping was done by hand, as 
was also thrashing out the ripened grain. The farmer used to 
fell his timber logs and sled them to the sawmill where they 
were sawed into timber and lumber and were ready to be re- 
turned to the owner. The grain was carried to the mill and 
the flour or meal taken away with no mention of remuneration 
to the miller, as it was always expected that he had taken his 
toll from the grist. The sawmills were mostly open sheds with 
little protection from the winds except from one side, and the 
flour mills were always cold except for the heat generated by 
the milling process. The dust floating in the air was almost as 
sensitive to Are as gunpowder, and no fire was therefore admit- 
ted within the building, waterpuwer of course driving the ma- 
chinery. Teams of oxen were used very generally in farm 
work and teaming, though horses, one or iimre, were generally 
kept for marketing and family use. Tlie strictest economy 
was practiced in respect to anything that cost money or extra 
labor, and the writer got himself disliked at one time while 



63 

working on a farm because he would wear stockings on Sunday 
in the summer time. Charles Island had a large building on 
the highest ground, presumably a hotel, with verandah encir- 
cling it on the first and second stories, and from the recollec- 
tion of the writer it was usually open to parties visiting the 
Island. There were also a small house near the landing and a 
bowling alley nearby. 

Mr. Fred Clements and .Air. Louis Woods were caretakers 
at different times, and when ^Ir. Pritchard took it, he, for a 
short time, ran a small side-wheel steamboat between the Island 
and the Town Wharf. The channel at that time had not been 
dredged and was barely passable for skiffs at low water, so that 
there was little depending upon the regidarity of trips. I 
think I have mentioned the tin horn th.at called the fishermen 
to duty when the -watchman at the lisli house discovered the 
promise of a good haul, but tliat does not cover the whole story. 
One of our citizens, musically inclined, procured a horn the 
counterpart of the fish horn, and at twilight each pleasant sum- 
mer evening repaired to the summit of the wooded knoll near 
what is now Noble Avenue just south of Broad Street, and 
there brought out such strains as he and the horn could pro- 
duce. Ilis selections were entirely original and the measure 
was regulated by his own lung power, but withal it was not an 
unwelcome serenade, and as I recollect was never frowned uj)on 
by its hearers. I also alluded to the profanity of Capt. Augus- 
tus Kelsey, and in no wise to speak disparagingly of that genial 
little man, I will give a little instance. "Ginger-Ten, Snake- 
Root," or when he caught a good fish, "T-y ty, I've got him." 

We had a brass band that we thought a wonder, for it was 
the only one most of us had ever heard, but my nnisical ear is 
not retroactive, ajid I cannot say noAv Avhether it was or not 
worth while. Certain it is, it was all made up of colored 
players (or colored men who played). AVe had lecture courses 
under the auspices of the iMilford Lyceum, that need no criti- 
cism, for the best lecturers on the platform at that time were 
sought, and in niany instances entertained us, among Avhom 
were Henry AVard Beecher, Horace Greeley. Professor Hayes, 
the Arctic explorer, and not a iew others quite as popular. The 
Lyceum also held debates that brought out home talent that 
was not to be despised. The^^ also tried to inaugurate a public 
library system, but without much success for many years, but if 



64 

I mistake not it was the nucleus of our present collection in 
the Taylor Library. The school system was made up of a dis- 
jointed lot of districts, each independent, having' its own com- 
mittee, who selected their own teachers without let or hin- 
drance, and the principal qualification was that the applicant 
must write in a plain hand. It sometimes happened that the 
hand was required for other duty than writing copy, and then 
it was well for the teacher if the stamp of authority was duly 
recognized, and usually it was, at least in so far as to keep down 
open insurrection if it did not mutterings. The school books 
were seldom changed, and at the beginning of each term it was 
the rule to begin the book anew and the advancement in grade 
depended more on the age of the pupil than proficiency in 
achievement. Corporal punishment was expected for fracture 
of the rules, and often it was administered unjustly and in some 
instances brutally. That there were no fatalities to report was 
a mere matter of chance, as missiles thrown in more than one 
instance were as deadly in their possibilities as bullets from a 
gun, but fortunately the aim was as erratic as the temper of 
the thrower. 

Leaving the schools, we will view the occupation of some 
of the boys out of school — driving cows. In the settlement of 
the town it is well known that homestead plots were allotted 
the settlers within the palisaded enclosure, with outlands be- 
yond its confines, and sixty years ago or thereabouts the same 
system obtained to some extent and cattle were driven to and 
from pasture daily, and the writer was one of the victims of 
that system and can recall Math some wonderment the daily 
trips at morning and evening from Green Street to and from 
Bells' Hill twice each day seven days per week, and all for a 
sum of twenty-five cents, to be received in milk as currency. 
It is often said that a dollar in those days was as big as a cart 
wheel, and it needs no extended argument to convince the men 
of three score years and ten of the truth of the saying. As one 
views the activities of these twentieth century days and the 
facilities for travel not only throughout our own wide domain 
and abroad, but right in the boundaries of our town, he feels 
like turning back the wheels of time to begin again the duties 
of that period aided by modern helps. However, if we give the 
matter a moment's thought, that is just what is now going on, 
but the appearance is so changed as to be strange until we think 



65 

of these wonderful days. For instance, the cows are 
still grazing on the selfsame pasture but they are not 
compelled to bring their own milk in to town nor is 
the farmer compelled to bring to them in town the prov- 
ender that is garnered now near the fields from which 
it is taken and where the stock is to be fed. Men go to 
the daily task of making nails as men went an hundred years 
ago, but by the aid of machinery the man can almost equal the 
output in number today that the smith could have produced 
from that day to this. Some will say that machinery has thus 
made manual labor a drug. Let us see what mean those long 
lists of emigrants coming from all parts of the world. Look 
into the house of the working man and see the piano, the talk- 
ing machine, the carpeted floors, the sanitary conveniences, 
running water, etc., see the lighted street, the bicycles, the 
commerce, the motor-boats, the trolley car carrying him for a 
nickel the length of the town, see the paved walks, free mail 
delivery to the remote section for tlie small sum of two cents, 
see your townsmen going friim eiglit or ten to seventy miles to 
their business, go to your telephone and speak to your friend 
in Nevv- York or beyond if you wish, go into your cash depart- 
ment and receive and transmit to the farthcvst saleslady the 
payment and change for a purchase ; go into the elevator and 
without even a "thank you" be carried to the topmost floor 
at your discretion — but Avhy enumerate? .Sit down and eat a 
dish of ice cream or eat a banana, or have you become cloyed? 
The writer was ignorant of both in his boyhood. He also re- 
calls an incident when a man with an ice-coated beard had 
made his way through the deep and drifted snow from near 
where now is the reservoir for our water supply when a rail- 
way train was stalled by the storm, and he in that cold and 
trackless path intent on reaching New Haven on foot that he 
might telegraph an important message. At that time two lone 
wires strung on poles ran through our town with no instru- 
ment or operator nearer than Bridgeport or New Llaven. 

The section nf ]\Iilford now known as Fort Trumbull Beach 
was until after the Civil AVar all farm land. There had at 
one time been a house near the roadway opposite Mr. Thomas 
Falls' Cottage occupied and perhaps owned by one Justin 
Woods. Abigail Arnold also owned property in that vicinity, 
perhaps including all east of the "Bear Neck Lane," as Sea- 



66 

side Avenue was then called. This land was purchased by Mr. 
F. E. Burns, I should say from my recollection about 1855, and 
he planted corn chiefly over the whole ground. He erected a 
barn thereon, which was then the only building along the shore 
front from the Harbor west to Milford Point, at which Point 
had been for many years the huts of the fishermen who drew 
their living from the water. The barn erected by Mr. Burns 
is yet standing, in rear of the Larkin house. A plot of ground 
on the west of Bear Neck lane was owned by Thaddeus Bald- 
win and given by him to his grandson, Thaddeus Baldwin Mer- 
win. Adjoining that plot on the west was the property of 
Alvin Stow. 

It is a matter of history that a Fort was built, guns 
mounted and a garrison kept on duty during the Revolution, 
minute men stationed at ditferent points and military organiza- 
tions maintained for home duty as Coast Guard. Orders were 
issued by the British Commander to make a depot of Charles 
Island and round up all the livestock in the surrounding towns 
and transport them to the Island to be drawn from as needed. 
An attempt was made at Fairfield to execute this order, but 
failed, and possibly the "bulldogs" at Fort Trumbull had an 
influence in the countermanding of that order. History does 
not record a single battle on IMilford soil in which the English 
were engaged, nor is there a record of any white person killed 
or seriously injured by the Indians within the limits of the 
town. No record is shown of any Indian camp at Fort Trum- 
bull Beach, but there was formerly sufficient evidence to prove 
that it had been so used, in the accumulation of shells west of 
Bear Neck lane, near where was erected the house known to the 
writer as the Aston House. 

In the boyhood days of the writer bathing suits were those 
cast off by Adam and Eve when fig leaves came in vogue, but 
the beach was spacious enough to accommodate all, and there 
was an unwritten law that forbade intrusion upon pre-empted 
territory, and the writer never learned of any violations. 



A Chronological History of Milford. 



By NATHAN STOAVE 



This chronological history, now in its first edition, is subject to 
correction, addition and elimination. 

(Courtesy of Price, Lee and Company, New Haven, Conn.) 

1637 — Arrived in Boston, company of Messrs. Davenport and 
Eaton, men of wealth and highest respectability. 
A committee of investigation sent to Quinnipiac with a 
view to settlement, six of whom were left to winter at 
Quinnipiac. Of this number, John Beecher died. 

1638 — Company left Boston by vessel, arriving in Quinnipiac 
in the first week in April, 1638, near a large oak tree, about 
where now is College and George Streets. 
— The Sabbath following their safe arrival, they gathered 
for worship under the "large oak tree." Mr. Davenport 
preached in the morning. 

— Mr. Peter Prudden preached in the afternoon, from the 
text Matt. 3:3. "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 
prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." 
The planters at once set about building for a permanent 
settlement. The Hereford men under the leadership of Mr. 
Prudden kept much to themselves with a view of making 
a separate plantation. 

1639 — The original purchase was made for the planters from 
"Ansantawai" the Chief of the Paugussett Tribe of Indians 
and his associates Arracowset, Anshuta, Manamatque and 
Tatacenacouse, lesser Chiefs, and confirmed by "twig and 
turf" the Indian mode of transfer. The Indians also con- 
firmed the sale by affixing their mark to a deed of sale in 
accordance with the English custom, the English having 
written the signatures of the several Chiefs for them. The 
deed was taken for the planters by William Fowler, Ed- 
mund Tapp, Zachariah Whitman, Benjamin Fenn and 



Alexander Bryan. Later purchases were made until the 
boundary line was at Waterbury. The original purchase 
consisted of all the land lying between the East river and 
the Housatouic, with Long Island Sound on the south two 
miles toward Paugussett (Derby) north. 
— Early in the Spring the planters, with their families yet 
at Quinnipiac, began preparations for occupancy. The 
material for the Common House was brought by water from 
New Haven, and set up near the head of the harbor on tlie 
west side. Such other material and utensils as were de- 
sired for building were probably brought at the same time. 
— A meeting of the planters of Quinnipiac, Wopowage and 
Minuncatuck was held in the barn of Mr. Robert Newman 
for the purpose of formulating a set of rules for the gov- 
ernment of the Churches. After much discussion, Mr. 
Davenport requested Mr. Newman to read the rules as he 
had written them. After the reading a vote was taken, and 
was unanimous for their adoption "no man dissenting." 
— The reading and voting were repeated with the same re- 
sult. Historical sermon by Rev. E. C. Baldwin. 
— Having decided the fundamental questions they prepared 
to organize their churches, which was done in the same barn. 

Says Mr. Mather: — "Our glorious Lord himself born in 
a manger, it was the more allowable that a church * * * 
* * * should be born in a barn. I behold our Lord 
with His fan in His hand purging His floor, and gathering 
His wheat into the garner." 

Mr. Phillip Henry said : "No new thing turning a thresh- 
ing floor into a Temple." From the text of Scripture, "Wis- 
dom hath builded her house. She hath hewn out her seven 
pillars," was derived the plan of placing the church gov- 
ernment upon seven pillars selected frojn the most stable 
material. 

— In the Fall of 1639, the planters of Mr. Prudden's com- 
pany, led by Sergt. Thomas Tibbals, followed the devious 
Indian paths, driving their flocks before them, and came to 
their new home by the AA^epowaug. They set down thickly 
together on both sides of Mill river and the West End 
brook, for the convenience of water for themselves and 
their stock. Their household goods were brought by water. 



69 

Mr. Prudden had been serving the planters at Wethers- 
field as a preacher and many from that place chose to fol- 
low him to Wepowang, thereby bringing the estimated 
number of inhabitants to about two hundred. 
— The first general meeting of the planters was held (prob- 
ably in the Common House) at which a civil polity was 
adopted, only church members being allowed to vote or 
entitled to hold office. At this meeting were chosen offic- 
ers, for the purpose of dividing and allotting the land, 
taking orders for timber, trying causes betAveen man and 
man, and to exercise a general supervision of civil affairs 
in the plantation. A court of five judges was authorized 
to call the people together at stated i)eriods and such other 
times when desirable, for the public benefit. Just when 
the Home lots section of the plantation was enclosed with- 
in a line of palisades is not shown but probably as early 
as practicable, surely before 1646. 

— As stated, a coastwise traffic was early in vogue, between 
Milford and other parts. 
1640 — Was held the second general meeting of the Wepowaug 
planters. They then agreed with Mr. William Fowler, that 
he should build a grist mill and a house for it, and have 
it going by the last of September. For his encouragement 
he was granted thirty acres of land rate free during his 
natural life, and later the perpetual use of the stream. It 
was the first grist mill in the colony. Mr. Fowler later 
set up a saw mill. 

— Train Band organized. John Astwood, Captain. 
— Just two years from the first meeting for worship 
under "the large oak tree" at Quinnipiac, came the regu- 
lar ordination of Mr. Peter Prudden as pastor of the 
church in Milford. He was ordained by his own brethren, 
Zachariah Whitman, William Fowler and Edmund Tapp 
who derived their authority from the Church. 
— The next general meeting was held, and with common 
consent and general vote of the freemen, the plantation 
was named Milford, and the seal adopted for the use of 
the town was composed of the two letters M & F united, 
signifying — it is said — United Milford Freemen. At this 
meeting ' ' the Court of Five Judges ' ' was directed to build 



70 

a bridge over the Mill river with all expedition; also to 
set up a Meeting House thirty feet square, after such man- 
ner as they should judge most convenient for the public 
good. This House was erected on the site of the present 
structure. The bridge was the Meeting House bridge. 

1641 — The Meeting House being "set up" the sitting was ar- 
ranged with respect to aged persons, the wives of church 
officers and magistrates, general military officers and deaf 
persons. Alexander Bryan was early in trade with Bos- 
ton and other coastwise ports and a little later his son 
Richard entered the same line. Mr. Bryan's notes passed 
as current in Boston as do now our National Bank notes. 
— Every one who did not keep a ladder on his house was 
liable to pay a fine of five (5) shillings. 
— Robert Treat, though yet under age, was recognized 
as possessing uncommon ability and was called upon to 
assist in surveying and laying out the divisions of land, 
This year Mr. Richard Miles returned to New Plaven. 

1642 — Dr. Jasper Grrum, for whom there fortunately was little 
to do in a professional line, turned his attention to in- 
structing the youth of the community and was ably assist- 
ed for a short time by Rev. John Sherman. 

1643 — Four pence was to be paid on every house lot, to defray 
public expense. 

— Mr. Edmund Tapp died in New Haven. Tliis year all of tlie 
English in New England realizing that a union of the 
Colonies, so far as to render each other mutual assistance 
in the event of hostile action by the Dutch or Indians was 
necessary, agreed to such united action in case of need. 

1644 — Milford united with New Haven Colon}^ 

— Solomon, son of William East, aged about one year, died 
the first death among the English to occur in the town 

since settlement. 

— Henry Tomlinson to open an "Ordinary" (or Tavern). 
1645 — Fowler's Bridge built. First school house built, used 
also for public gatherings. 

— Zachariah Whitman ordained Ruling Elder of the 
Church. John Sherman and Thomas Tapping went to 
Branford. 



71 

— Church met for the choice of Deacons. Brother Fenn 
and Brother Clark, Jr., were nominated. 
— Sarah, wife of Nicholas Camp died, the first adult among 
the settlers to die in Milf ord. 

— Division fences between house lots set up. By this time 
most of the planters had frame houses erected, lots num- 
bered and names given on map. 
1646 — A list of the planters, and a plan of the town plot is 
made, showing where each house lot is situated. The 
residential part of the purchase was already enclosed by a 
line of palisades. About this time the Indians became 
troublesome, and set fire to the couutrj^ around, which, 
though it greatly damaged the timber and meadows, was 
quenched before it reached the palisades, and no houses 
were destroyed. 
1647 — Benjamin Fenn was called as Deacon and duly installed. 
1648 — The Guard House, which was common property, was 
sold for twenty (20) shillings to Mr. James Rogers. 
—Thomas Lav\^rence and the Widow Beard, settlers, died. 
The Mohawk Indians were secreted in a swamp awaiting 
a chance to attack the Milford Indians, but were dis- 
covered by the English who notified the Wepowangs. The 
latter set up the war-whoop and gathered in such numbers 
that they attacked and defeated the invaders, killing some 
and capturing some, one of whom they stripped, bound to 
a stake and left in the great meadows to starve and be 
tortured by the mosquitoes. He was found and released 
by one of the English, Thomas Hine, and set at liberty. 
1650 — Alexander Bryan was granted a piece of laud at the 
corner of Broad Street and Dock lane on which to build 
a warehouse. He also built a wharf at the end of the lane 
where now is the Straw Hat Factory. 
1651 — Thomas Sanford given leave to build a barn on Sachem's 
Island, provided he did not place it M^here it would inter- 
fere with the building of a bridge and roadway. 
1653 — Alexander Bryan gave to the town the wharf he had 

built on condition that they would maintain it. 
1654 — John Astwood died in England where he had gone on 
a public mission for the people. Robert Treat succeeded 
him in the Train Band. 



72 

1655 — A Latin school established in Milford ''for such scholars 
as need learning." 

— Mr. Richard given permission to build a warehouse on 
the opposite side of the lane from his father's. 
Further purchase of land from the Indians, by Ensign 
Bryan, Sergt. Baldwin and William East. 
— The "Ordinance" House was sold (Note: — This possibly 
relates to the House kept by Henry Tomlinson as there was 
at this time, no little friction between Mr. Richard Bryan, 
Mr. Tomlinson, and the town authorities as to the sale or 
exchange of the House in which the Tavern or Ordinary 
was kept). 

1656 — Mr. Peter Prudden died this year, and Mr. Mather said 
of him: "He continued an able and faithful servant of 
the churches until about the fifty-sixth year of his own age, 
and the fifty-sixth of the present age, when his death was 
felt by the colony as the fall of a pillar which made the 
whole fabric to shake." 

1657 — Milford Island, originally laid out to George Hubbard 
who sold it to Richard Bryan, is beautifully situated about 
three-quarters of a mile from the mainland but with a bar 
between it and the shore that is bare half the time. Per- 
mission was given by the town to Charles Deal to purchase 
the island for a tobacco plantation on condition that the 
buildings should not be used for any other purpose ; he 
should not trade with the Dutch or Indians, nor harbor 
any sailors or disreputable persons thereon. There ii5 a 
legend that the notorious Capt. Kidd buried treasure on 
the island which is probably a myth, but that he did at 
times land there is quite probable, as he once made a visit 
to the town, and, as stated in a letter from a maiden of 
the town, took the liberty to kiss her, which liberty it 
seems she did not greatly resent. 

— Mr. Thomas Buckingham, Sr. died in Boston where he 
was in search of a successor to the Rev. Peter Prudden. 

1659-60 — Indian Neck between East river and the Sound and 
land from the Indian path to Oyster river south to the foot 
path from Pangwell to New Haven, given by Robert Treat 
and Ensign Bryan. 

1660— Mr. William Fowler died. 



73 

— About this time the exportation of timber suitable for 
vessels or pumps forbidden. 

Rev. Roger Newton, son-in-law of Rev. Thomas Hooker, 
was installed as Pastor of the Church of Christ, in Mil- 
ford. He was one of the seven founders, and the first 
Pastor of the Church in P^armington, continued here until 
his death July 7, 1688. 

1661 — The Regicides, IMajor Generals Goffe and Whalley came 
to Milford and for two years were secreted in the basement 
of a small building, used by the family as a work shop, 
standing at the rear of Mr. Micah Tomkins' house, the 
daugliters often at their work in the room overliead en- 
tirely ignorant of the presence of anyone below. 
— The first burying ground laid out by town. 

1662 — The l)ri(lge (Great Bridge) over Indian River was built. 
— Robert Treat was commissioned Captain of the Train 
Band having been in command as Lieutenant since the 
death of C'aptain John Astwood. 

1662 — This year Samuel Eells came to Milford and soon took 
a prominent part in the affairs of the town and colony. 
He Avas commissioner for the purchase of lands, and settling 
boundary lines, town clerk, captain of the Train Band 
and saw active service in Philip's War, with Capt. Church, 
and under Robert Treat. He was appointed on a commit- 
tee to copy the records of the town and was selected by 
the committee to transcribe them. 

1663 — He married Anna, daughter of Rev. Robert Lenthal, the 
officiating clerg\yman at the burial of the great John Hamp- 
den. About 1670 he built the house now known as the 
"Stow House," sold by his grandson Nathaniel Eells to 
Captain Stephen Stow in 1754. 
— Zachariah "Whitman died. 

1664 — Thomas Oviatt came to Milford. He was the nephew of 
Alexander Bryan and later held the office of town clerk. 
He was called "Mr." He was the founder of the family 
in Milford. Thomas Uffort was the founder of a distinct 
family name now extinct here. 

— New Haven jurisdiction dissolved and Milford came un- 
der the Connecticut Charter. 

1665 — Thomas Ford died. 



74 

— Robert Treat went to Newark, N. J., with Mr. Pierson's 
Company. 

1666 — James Prndden and Francis Norton died. 

— Col. Samuel Eells was born, son of Captain Samnel. He 
was liberally educated and took a very prominent part in 
affairs of the town and colony, was Colonel of the New 
Haven County Regiment, Assistant Naval Officer, Magis- 
trate, etc., born and lived about 87 years in the house given 
him by his father, the ' ' Stow House, ' ' and ancestor in one 
line of J. Pierpont Morgan. 

1669 — Joseph Northrup died. 

1670 — Jasper Green died. 

— Thomas Clark graduated from Harvard College. He was 
a planter in Milford, Capt. of Militia, Justice of the Peace, 
Representative to the General Assembly a number of years, 
and Judge of the County Court. He married a daughter of 
Asst.-Gov. Gibbard of New Haven. 

— Thomas Tibbals Avas given land in consideration of his 
helpfulness in serving Alexander Bryan, Esq., and Assist- 
ant John Beard, Commissioned Captain. 

1671 — Capt. Thomas Willit and Mrs. Johanna Prudden married. 

1672 — Robert Treat returned to Milford from Newark, N. J., 
where he was classed as the founder of that place and a 
tablet has recently been inscribed. 
— Governor Johnathan Law born in Milford. 

1673 — John Clark ordained Ruling Elder. Died the next year. 

1674 — The town had long owned a flock of sheep sometimes 
1,500, this year they secj[uestered two miles of land for the 
use of the town as a sheep pasture. 

1675 — A Fulling Mill and Saw Mill were built on the island 
near the meeting house, by Major Treat, Elder Bucking- 
ham, Lieut. Fowler and Thomas Hayes. 
— Richard Bryan and Sergeant East were in the trade with 
West Indies exporting horses, cattle, corn meal, etc., 
bringing back rum and molasses. 

— King Philip's war in which a number of Milford men 
were engaged, but unfortunately we do not know just 
whom. 

That Robert Treat was Commander-in-Chief of the Con- 
necticut forces we do know and also that Samuel Eelis 



75 

led a company as acting Captain, not commissioned until 
1680. 
1676—Robert Treat was elected Deputy Governor of Connec- 
ticut and held this office and that of Governor for thirty 
years until the infirmity of age compelled him to decline 
further service. 
1680— About this time the Indians, from various causes, had 
become few in number. In IMilford eight or ten wigwams 
were still at Oronoque but they soon left as the white men 
settled near. 

Their fort, near the ferry, had been destroyed by eleven 
young men of Milford, who, upon complaint of the Indians 
were brought into court, confessed their part in the mis- 
chief and were fined ten pounds, this was in 1671. 
_A committee was appointed to meet a like committee 
from Derby to settle fairly and finally the boundary line 
between the two towns. 
1681— The town voted that the land bought from Mrs. Ferman 
should be set apart and sequestered for the use of the 
ministry as a parsonage from one minister to another by 
succession in Milford, and that it should not be in the 
power of the town to sell, alienate or dispose of it, but for 
the use of the ministry as above expressed. 

Forty acres were sequestered for the Stratford Ferry. 
1683— The Rev. Roger Newton died, after a service in Milford 

of about twenty-three years. 
1685— The Rev. Samuel Andrews was installed as Pastor of 
the church. He was one of the principal founders of Yale 
College, and while Rector he instructed the senior class in 
Milford. 

—Purchase was made of a tract of land lying by the path 
which goes from New Haven to Derby and bounded with 
said path south, with the brook called Bladens Brook, 
north, with the line that is in the point between New 
Haven and Milford east, and the line that is the point 
between Derby and Milford west. This purchase was 
made by Robert Treat, Samuel Eells, Benjamin Fenn, 
Thomas Clark and Sylvanus Baldwin. 
1686— The town gave to Nicholas Camp ground for a new 
warehouse. In the early history of the town, in order 



76 

to facilitate the passage of persons from the west end, it 
was ordered by the town that a path should cross from 
that section to the highway near the church. Mr. Nicholas 
Camp to maintain a stile at l«s fence and Deacon Fletcher 
a bridge made of a log hewed on the top side, over 
the brook in Little Dreadful Swamp. 

1689 — William Roberts, died. Earliest date of death of a set- 
tler found in Milford Cemetery. 

1690 — George Clark (Carpenter), died. Roger Newton and 
Capt. John Beard died. 

— Ship building was a prominent enterprise in Milford. 
Bethuel Langstaff was a master builder. 
— Samuel Burwell commissioned Captain of Militia in 
Milford. 

1691 — Thomas Oviatt, died. lie was probably tallow- 
chandler or soap manufacturer as he names as collateral 
for a loan from Richard Bryan, quantities of oil and other 
material reserving for his personal use five (5) barrels of 
oil. Ilis son, Thomas, was probably Town Clerk in 1689, 
then about 22 years of age. 
Sergt. Thomas Tibbals, died. Elnathan Bolsford, died. 

J 696 — Mungo Nisbett, a resident of the town, was given liberty 
to prosecute free trade and commerce. He opened traffic 
to New York. He married Sarah, daughter of Richard 
Bryan, widow of Samuel Fitch. She died in 1698. Grave- 
stone in cemetery is a work of art on English slate. 

1699 — A schoolhouse, serving also as a hall, was authorized 
to be built at "West End" which is said to have stood for 
about one hundred years. The date of erection of the 
Town House at the East End is not found, but it is said 
that after schools were established a Town House was 
built, which in 1734, gave place to a new and larger one. 

1700 — In the spring of this year so much danger was appre- 
hended that two houses were fortified against a possible 
attack by the Indians. 

— A further purchase of land was made north of Bladen's 
Brook to the brook called Lebanon Brook, east by New 
Haven and west by the land between Derby and Milford. 
Committee for the purchase Robert Treat, Thomas Clark, 
Sr., Samuel Buckingham, Lieut. S. Baldwin and Ensign 
George Clark, 



77 

1701-1702 — Abraham Pierson, son of Abraham Lewis of Bran- 
ford and Newark, N. J., studied in Milford under Rev. 
Roger Newton. He married Abigail, daughter of George 
Clark. He was selected as the first President of Yale Col- 
lege in 1701. Rev. Samuel Andrews as Rector and Presi- 
dent for many j'ears and the successor of Abraham Pier- 
son. He married Abigail, youngest daughter of Governor 
Robert Treat. Abigail Andrews, daughter of Rev. Sam- 
uel, married Johnathan Law, later Governor, and another 
daughter married Rev. Timothj'' Cutler, who was the third 
President of Yale. 

1702 — The final purchase toward the north was made. Land 
bounded south by Lebanon Brook, east by Milford and 
New Haven line, north by Beacon Hill or Waterbury line, 
and west by line between Derby and Milford. 

1705 — Joseph Wheeler settled at what was called the "Upper 
Meadow," on the Housatonic River, or Sergeant Camp's 
hop garden, the place since known as Wheeler's Farm. 

1706 — Plum's Bridge, on the old road at the quarry, was built 
by John Plum, Sr., the miller who established a mill on 
the Indian river near that point, and who agreed to build 
and maintain the bridge. 

1707 — Rev. Samuel Andrew chosen as Rector of Yale College 
and at the death of President Pierson succeeded him as 
President. 

1709 — Col. Roger Newton, who succeeded Col. Samuel Eells in 
command of the 2d. Regiment of Conn, troops, grandson 
of Rev. Roger Newton, graduate of Harvard, distinguished 
as a military officer in Queen Anne's War, commander the 
Conn, troops at Louisburg, was Judge of the County Court 
and Chief Judge for several times. (See inscription on 
gravestone JMilford Cemetery.) 

1710— Gov. Robert Treat died July 12, 1710, age 88. 

1712 — Committee appointed by the town to agree with the 
Stratford authorities to carry the inhabitants to Milford 
over the river at half price on condition that Milford furn- 
ish a boat on this side. 

1713 — A petition for a new patent, that should include the late 
purchases and define the then boundaries of the town and 
protect the title thereto, was drawn up by Jonathan Law 



Esq., and the following committee chosen to advance the 
claim : Jonathan Law, Esq., Sergt. Zachariah Baldwin, En- 
sign Samuel Gunn, Capt. Joseph Treat, Ensign George 
Clark and Samuel Clark, Jr. 

— The patent was granted, a copy made to which the seal 
of the colony was attached, and the Governor, Gruden Sal- 
tonstall, and Secretary Alexander AVyllys, of the Colony, 
signed their names. 

— A mill, situated near the present Gulf Bridge, was erect- 
ed by a company of forty of the inhabitants. It was a 
tide mill and could be operated only as the tides permitted. 
The latest owner was Mr. Stoddard father of Wm. B., Good- 
win and Henry Stoddard, citizens well known and respected 
by all. It was demolished nearly fifty years ago. 

1714 — Samuel Clarke bought HrycUi's wareliouse. 

1716 — Was an uncommonly cold and hard winter. 

1717 — "Seafiower" launched in j\Iilford, for Richard Bryan. 
Shipbuilding carried on here for about 100 years. Last 
vessels launched were the "Isabella" 1818 and "Marcel- 
lus" 1820. The builders were W. H. Fowler and D. L. 
Baldwin. 

—Voted that the selectmen. Grand- Jurors, Constables, List- 
ers, Ensign Beard and Ensign Genrge Clark take turns to 
look after the boys at meetings for public worship. (Some 
pretty bad boys under the sod in our Cemetery) . 

1718 — Committee chosen to view the highway leading to the 
parting of the river on the westward side of Mr. Merwin's 
lot, (probably at the Gulf shore). Also voted that two 
schools be kept in Town three months in the Winter. Com- 
mittee chosen to regulate and settle on highways in general. 

1719^Voted that the Meeting House be now seated by the 
same rules agreed upon 1708-9. 

1720 — Voted that a door be made in the west side of the Meet- 
ing House for passage from each gallery to the street. 

1721 — Action having been brought against the town for dam- 
ages by flooding meadows in Gulf Mill pond attorneys were 
chosen to defend the town. 

— Swine running at large in the highways and commons, 
not properly ringed and yoked, owners were held respon- 



79 

sible for damages, of one shilling per head and for dam- 
age done. 
1722 — Voted that the Selectmen be a Comudttee to pursue the 
matter relating to the ferry between Milford and Strat- 
ford now in agitation in the General Assembl3^ 

Note — There appears to be a gap in the records here of 

several years in which time it is probable a new Meeting 

House was erected. 

1728 — Voted seven pence on the pound for the Town charges 

and the charges for the building of the new Meeting House. 

1729 — Rate nine pence per pound. Kules passed for seating 

persons in the new Meeting House. 
1730 — Count Samuel ]\Iiles having died, Theophilus utiles, his 
son, is chosen Town Treasurer, to collect the remainder of 
the loan rate which his father had not done. 
— Pews assigned to Zachariah A¥hitman and his heirs for- 
ever, also to George Clark the northeast pew in the gallery 
to him and his heirs. 

Note — Zachariah AVhitman, the ruling elder, left no child, 
but left his estate to his nephew Zachariah, son of his 
brother John of Hartford, named above. 
— All the pews in the gallery to be granted to such persons 
as should, within one month apply to the Committee, such 
as they should choose and the Committee allow. 
1731_Voted to accept of the grant to the town, by the General 
Assembly, of the liberty to set up a ferry on this side of the 
river called Stratford river. Voted to make the improve- 
ment and a committee chosen and given a very broad free- 
dom in carrying out the plan. 
1733_Selectmen chosen a committee with power to repair 
the old school house. If not profitable to repair the old 
building they were empowered to build a new one large 
enough to accommodate the town to meet in for Town 
Meetings and like purposes. 
1734 — Selectmen to take care of the school the ensuing year. 
— Provision made for a bridge over Mill river on the Derby 
and New Haven road, for man and horse. 
1735_Committee appointed to confer with Mr. Andrews in re- 
lation to the settling of another Minister in the town. 
— Committee appointed to view the West End school house 



so 

and if not profitable to repair to build a new one at the West 
End, of such size as they shall think necessary. Meeting 
adjourned to February 2, 1736, at which time provision was 
made for procuring a Minister to assist our aged Minister 
as occasion may require. 
1736 — A committee waited upon Mr. Samuel Whittelsey, Jr., 
who after consideration accepted the call, which was re- 
ported at this meeting. 

— Voted that the Selectmen of the town do give an order 
to John Fowler, Town Clerk, to transcribe into other books 
all such records as they think necessary and proper. 

1736-7-9 — As there were some in the town who were not satis- 
fied to remain in the church and pay their share toward its 
support but dissented from the views of the new preacher, 
the men who were chosen to collect the rates brought the 
matter before the regular meeting for instructions. 

1738 — Mr. Samuel Whittelsey ordained Pastor of Milford 
Church. 

1740 — At the annual meeting held at the East End school house, 
the sextons were elected for the ensuing year. Among their 
other duties were to ring the bell, and give notice of deaths 
and funerals upon Sabbath days and other meetings. At a 
special meeting held May 5, 1740, the Hon. Dept.-Gov. 
Roger Newton, Lieut. George Clark, Capt. Samuel Gunn 
and Mr. Freegift Coggeshall or any three of them Avere 
authorized to procure a bell, as soon as convenient, for 
the use of the town, to Aveigli about five hundred and 
eighty pounds, not to exceed six hundred pounds. Eates 
for defraying charges for the bell are not to be levied upon 
the parish of Amity (AVoodbridge). Rate 3 pence per 
pound. 

1742 — Voted that the tongue of the bell shall be larger than it 
now is, in order to help the sound thereof, the Selectmen 
to decide what size may be suitable. 

1744 — At a special meeting called for the purpose, the Selectmen 
reported the church steeple to be in a dangerous condition 
as they had found one plate and all the beams upon tlie top 
of the tower defective and very difficult to repair. The 
spire be taken down. Voted, to take it down and after 
such timbers are properly renewed and the floor of the 



81 

tower relaicT. the spire should be rebuilt not to exceed forty 
feet in height from the top of the tower. 
— Agreed by the town and voted that the Selectmen, with 
advice of David Sandford. be a committee to order a 
weathercock, how high and after what manner they shall 
judge proper. 
1745 — The Sexton is required to take care of the bell and clock. 
Rate fixed for defraying expense of repairs on Meeting 
House and putting up weathercock. A committee was also 
chosen to investigate a charge that a fence was being con- 
structed so as to obstruct the passing and landing at the 
landing place at the Gulf. 
1747.8_The prayer of Col. Samuel Eells. Benjamin Fenn, 
George Clark. Jr.. and Ephraim Strong, in behalf of them- 
selves and others " * * * that the town do vote and 
agree that every member in each congregation have free 
liberty, which meeting they shall attend * * * the 
money received to be eciually divided; or if any other way 
could be provided by Avhich we could unite under one 
roof, if it is for the glory of God, we trust we should em- 
brace it." 
1748_Josiah Piatt. John :\rerwin and sundry others, inhabit- 
ants of the town of ^Milford. living at the East farms, com- 
monly called Burwell's farms, pray for a part of the 
school money. Voted upon and decided in the affirmative 
provided, however, that the same be used for the schooling 
of children. 
1749_Bridge authorized to be built across the :\Iill river at a 
place called Breakneck Plain. 

:Money granted to Bryan's farm and Wheeler's farm 

for schools. 

1750 Rates collected for the :\Iinister for the year past were 

exclusive of the parish of Amity, and the persons whose 
names were entered with the Town Clerk as dissenters 
from the established church in :\Iilford. Also a new lay- 
out of the road from Burwell's farm to Oyster river ex- 
changing the present highway for land through that laid 
out to Johannah Gunn, right where the path now goeth 
toward Oyster river. 



82 

1751 — Voted to lay out a highway three rods wide between 
Andrew Tuttle's land and the burying ground. 
— A committee was appointed to search the records with 
reference to land sequestered and granted b}^ the town 
for the use of a ferry, etc., and report at the next meeting. 

1752 — A committee was appointed to confer with Thomas 
Clark, Jr., with reference to the purchase of some part of 
his land adjoining the burying ground, to enlarge the 
burying yard. 

— Assessments were made for schools at Bryan's farms, 
Burwell's farms, AVheeler's farms, and our own school- 
house set up in the north end of the town. 

1754 — Capt. Stephen Stow of Middletown, who had married 
Freelove Baldwin of this town, purchased from Nathaniel 
Eells, the house now known as ''The Stow House." 
— A half penny rate was levied to keep the meeting house 
in repair. 

1755 — A committee appointed for a further conference with 
Mr. Thomas Clark, Jr., for land at the burying ground, 
also to make out an estimate of the cost to make up and 
finish the remainder of the work to enclose the bury- 
ing yard. 

1756 — The town agreed to purchase the land lying eastward 
of the burying ground from Mr. Thomas Clark, Jr., and 
appointed a committee to finish the fence. 
— The Selectmen with others to assist, lay out a highway 
to the Oyster Banks at Stratford Point. (Probably Peconic 
on Milford Point, at the mouth of Stratford or Housatonic 
river.) 

1757 — The King's troops were ordered to encamp at Milford 
during the winter of 1757 and 8, the town to quarter them. 
It was, therefore, voted to provide a house for the King's 
troops. 

— Two men of the town were ordered to be prosecuted for 
the running over and wounding of Margaret Parker. 
— The regular town meeting adjourned to meet April 26, 
1758. 

1758 — (Probably for the reason that the King's troops were 
quartered in the school or town house, the regular meet- 
ing on December 26, 1757, adjourned, transacting little or 



83 

no public business, to meet at the church building at this 
time.) At this adjourned meeting at the church, a further 
provision was made for the King's troops. 
1759 — The records of this meeting do not show any mention of 
the destruction of the Town House by the British soldiers 
other than is implied by the fact that an indemnity fund 
was to be used in erecting the proposed new House. At 
this meeting David Baldwin was chosen as sexton for 
the ensuing year and was to ring the bell on all public 
occasions and "at nine o'clock o 'nights." 
— The last clause probably refers to the recently enacted 
law by the General Assembly at Hartford relating to tip- 
pling and drunkenness, which imposed a severe penalty 
upon any person found in a house where strong drink was 
sold after nine o 'clock at night, and a more severe penalty 
upon the owner or occupant of such a house who should 
permit such a breach of the law upon his, her or their pre- 
mises. Also it was voted to lay out the fifty pounds grant- 
ed by the government to build a Town House, to be two 
feet larger in length and breadth than it was before and 
not "Exsed." Voted, that Mr. John Harpins, Jr., should 
build the house so far as the above said fifty pounds would 
go. Mr. Harpins to have no reward for his trouble. 
—Agreed and voted by the town that Mr. Robert Treat 
and Capt. John Woodruif should be a committee to direct 
Mr. Harpins in the building of the Town House and to in- 
spect his accounts and to curtail the same if they should 
think them to be unreasonable. 

—Certain persons were exempt from taxes toward the 
salary of Mr. Whittelsey if they payed to Rev. Job Prud- 
den and showed a receipt signed by him to the collector. 
1761— Assessment of one penny per pound layed and collected 
to pay for finishing the ferry house, fencing, and other 
changes the Committee had made. 

Rev. Job Prudden is granted the improvement of two 

acres of salt meadow, in the part called the "elder's 
meadow," as long as he shall remain in the ministry in 
this place. 

Note— The above items are of little consequence only 
as showing a disposition to recognize, in a legal way, the 
dissolution of the two factions. 



84 

1763 — Vote taken to prohibit the taking of oysters from the 
Indian river dnring the few summer months. Committee 
appointed to perambulate and fix monuments to mark the 
line between Milford and New Haven. 

1764 — Agreed and voted to build a bridge over the run called 
East river, between Nehemiah Smith's and Zachariah 
Marke's. 

1766 — Voted a rate of one farthing for improvement of the 
schools, also voted that four schools be kept through 
the winter. 

1767 — Voted that for sick persons oysters may be taken with 
rakes until the town shall otherwise agree. 

1768 — Agreed that Rebecca Clark, widow, should have the 
profits of the pound which Lieut. George Clark built in 
the west end of the town so long as she shall keep the 
same in good repair and so that it answers for a pound. 

Note — This is unique as allowing anything to a woman 
by vote of the town. 

Voted to build a bridge over the river by the house 
formerly belonging to John Baldwin. 

Note — This was before the mill was set up by Messrs. 
Treat, Buckingham, Fowler and Hayes, and no mill pond 
was near the Meeting House and the stream was narrow. 
— Certain parties granted the exclusive right to plant 
and take up oysters in a limited acre in the Indian river 
above Fowlers Rock. 

— Voted that the town should defend legally the suit now 
pending between citizens of Milford and Stratford, relat- 
ing to fishing rights in the Stratford river. 
— Agent appointed to petition the General Assembly to 
grant a certain section on Stratford river for a fishing place 
to Israel Curtiss and others. The General Assembly did ap- 
l^oint a disinterested commission consisting of IMessrs. 
Thomas Darling of New Haven, David Burr of Fairfield 
and Col. Thomas Felch of Norwalk, to hear and report 
upon the matter. 

1774 — Question whether the town will provide one or more 
agents to attend the Congress at ]\Iiddletown, in the mat- 
ter of claiming the right to land ceded to the State west 
of New York and the Susquehanna, the jurisdiction of 
which is claimed by Mr. Penn. 



85 

— Small pox having broken out in the toAAai measures to 
control its spread were taken, and provision made for a 
house for the convenience of infected persons to be built, 
40 by 18 feet, and the necessary bedding, etc., furnished. 
— Meeting convened agreeable to direction of the eleventh 
article of association agreed upon by the American Conti- 
nental Congress at Philadelphia, September 5, 1774. Re- 
solved that we highly approve of and will abide by the 
association in every particular thereof and agreed upon. 

Various committees appointed and also voted : That a 
subscription be opened forthwith for the relief and sup- 
port of the poor inhabitants that are sufferers by the Port 
Bill. 

1775 — Voted that the great guns be mounted on trucks. The 
Selectmen provide all things necessary for use of the great 
guns. That bayonets and other provisions be furnished. 
That a minute post be established and continued until Mon- 
day next under the direction of Isaac Miles. 
— A petition to the General Assembly to allow a company 
to be enlisted. Voted to grant some gratuity to tliose who 
had enlisted under command of John Fowler. 

1776 — Under stress of circumstances the use of powder, etc., 
for fowling pieces was forbidden. 

— Vote to accept grant of General Assembly of permission 
to fortify, and committee appointed to select a place. 
— Agreed that the fortification should be in West Point. 
— Town to proceed to build a battery to be built by taxa- 
tion. Land purchased from John Arnold to build battery 
upon. 

1777 — Agreed to provide for families of soldiers. Ten pounds 
voted to any citizen of the town who would enlist in the 
service of the United States for three years. 
— Voted to provide clothing for the soldiers. 
— "Classing Men" to fill up quota for Continental Army. 

Note — The Continental troops were what are now termed 
regulars as distinguished from the Militia. ("Classing 
Men" are presumed to be recruiting officers). 
— Voted to refund the several five pounds, paid by the 
"Classing Men," to raise men for the Army. 

1778 — Articles of Confederation are approved, except the eighth 
which it is thought should be modified (relating to meth- 
ods of taxation). 



S6 

1779 — Twenty British transport ships anchored off Milford. 

1780 — Thirty pounds voted for every able-bodied recruit who 
enlists for the war. Six pounds for those who enlist for 
. six months. Twenty shillings per month for those only 
who serve out of the town. 

— Rate of six pence half penny state tax. Selectmen to 
ascertain town's deficiency in troops and procure enlist- 
ments. 

— Tax laid for running town defence. Town to allow Com- 
mittee for supplying soldiers' families, market price if not 
allowed by pay table. 

1781-2 — Committee appointed to raise and put up corn and flour 
for Continental Army. Committee appointed to procure a 
quota for Regiment now forming. 

1783 — Provisions made for soldiers' families, and encourage- 
ment to enlist. 

Note — No record appears as to the closing of the war. 

1784^— Voted that the obligation for rent of ferry by Samuel 
Smith (deceased) be abated, and Selectmen directed to let 
out the ferry for three years. 

— Committee appointed to meet with one appointed by Gen- 
eral Assembly to divide the town stock between the town of 
Milford and the town of Woodbridge (recently set off as a 
separate township). 

1785 — Committee to view the road at Hog rock and report to a 
future meeting the probable expense of alteration. 
— Committee on road at Ilog rock reported and were in- 
structed to carry out the scheme. 

Note — The road formerly ran north of Hog rock to the 
ferry, but was afterward changed to its present layout 
south of it. The old road was called the "Witch's Road." 
Note — In relation to the ferry there has been consider- 
able speculation as to when it was given up and the bridge 
built over the Housatonic, which was apparently about tlie 
beginning of the Nineteenth Century, hence the items. 

L788 — Selectmen to view burying ground in relation to its en- 
largement and to confer with proprietor on the east side. 

1790 — Isaac Jones granted liberty to erect a small building 
near the ship yard in which to labor, to stand such time 
as the Selectmen think reasonable. 



87 

1791 — Selectmen directed to rebuild or repair the wharf or 
wharves of the ferry, etc. 

Also to confer with Nathan Fowler in relation to the 
raising of his dam and Hooding the road near the little 
Mill pond (so-called). 

1792 — Agent appointed to oppose the oj^ening of highway be- 
gimiing a little east of Jeremiah Bull's and running across 
several lots until it comes to Broad Street, a little west of 
Capt. Charles Pond's (now High Street). 

1793— Gulf A¥harf built by Charles Pond & Co. 

1796 — Milford Grenadiers organized. Capt. Daniel Sackett 
connnanding. Scarlet coats with buff facings, gold lace 
trimmings, drab knee breeches with buckles, Suwarrow 
boots with buckles, pointed caps eighteen inches high of 
cloth, red front, buff back. Ostrich plumes and trimmings 
on edges of caps. 

1797 — Selectmen and Abraham Tomlinson to receive proposals 
for the ferry house, lands, and all the town's right to the 
ferry. 

Also voted that it shall be lawful for any of the inhab- 
itants to enter in and upon any land whatever within the 
limits of the town and to dig up and destroy barbery 
bushes growing thereon. 

1798 — Voted to sell the ferry provided $750 was offered, the 
purchaser to give security for double the amount, the 
property and rights in the purchase to be accepted as one 
half. The lease of the property and rights were secured 
by Joseph Hopkins of Waterbury for a term of 999 years, 
January 26, 1798, fully confirmed by vote of the town 
August 29, 1803. 

1800— Post Office established U. S. 

1802 — ^Jefferson Bridge built and the bridge at "Blue Rock," 
just north of the railroad bridge, was abandoned. 
— Presented a petition and citation from the New Haven 
and ]\lilford Turnpike Comj)any. The town voted that 
the turnpike should not cut through the land of the Mil- 
ford people but follow the roadways except to cut sharp 
corners. 

— Nathan Fowler requested the town to build a bridge 
near his mill across the flumeway, or aid and assist him 



88 

in building the same or make alteration in the road. I'e- 
tition denied. 

1804 — Voted to lay out the highway through the west end lots 
and a committee was appointed to view a suitable place to 
run it from north to south, and report ; also voted that the 
selectmen be desired to enlarge the burying ground next 
to the swamp or elsewhere. 

1805 — Church Society formed in North JMilford. Rev. Erastus 
Scranton, pastor, married April 10, 1806, Mary E. Prudden. 

1806 — Washington Bridge partially, destroyed by ice. 

1808 — Washington Bridge rebuilt, money raised by lottery. A 
negro belonging to Wm. Glenney died. 

1810 — Academy built near IMeeting House Bridge. East side 
of the river, Gulf Bridge. Population of town 2,674. 

1815 — Selectmen decided to put the Town Plouse in good repair. 

1816— Grand list $54,320. 

1819 — 100 dwellings within one mile space. Four corn mills, 
three fulling mills, three carding mills and three canneries. 
Regular packet sloops ran between this port and. New York, 
carrying besides farm produce and assorted cargoes, many 
sugar and molasses casks to be reshipped to West Indies, 
returning with supplies for the merchants and general mer- 
chandise. Passengers were sometimes carried. 

1822 — The Town of Orange was incorporated though the 
Church retained the name of North ]\Iilford until 1842, 
when the following act of the General Assembly made a 
change. Be it enacted, etc., "That the name of the Eccle- 
siastical Society of North Milford, in the Town of Orange, 
be and the same is hereby altered to the name of the Ec- 
clesiastical Society of Orange." They had been a separ- 
ate society since 1805. Meeting House dedicated April 
17, 1811. 

1823 — On this date the congregation met for the last time in 
the old meeting house that had served since 1728 and the 
building gave way to the present edifice. 

1824 — Voted : That a new town clock be purchased and the 
selectmen directed to dispose of the old one to the best 
advantage to the town. Also Voted : That the selectmen 
be authorized to let the burying ground for the pasturing 
of sheep only. 



89 

1825 — This year the town purchased a hearse for the use of the 
people. Up to this time it was the custom to carry the dead 
for burial upon biers borue by the pallbearers, sometimes 
resting upon tlie shoulders, the people who followed gen- 
erally in procession on foot, if able to walk. The town 
also ordered a horse for the hearse. 

1830 — Beach Bros. Carriage JManufaetory. 

1831 — Baptist Society formed.. Met for some time in old Town 
House. 

—Indian descendants of Wepowangs from Lake Champlain 
made a final visit to Poemic Point, in memory of their an- 
cestors. The last Indian on the Indian reservation at Tur- 
key Hill was i\Iolly Ilaekett, pronounced a noble specimen 
of her race, and a general favorite with the pale-faces 
near. 

1832 — A Town Hall was erected about ten rods southwest of 
the old ToAvn House, and the selectmen were directed to 
sell the old one, for Mdiich they received -1^152. The build- 
ing was used by the Baptist Society for some time, but they 
later erected a new ]\Ieeting House. The meeting at which 
the final report was disposed of and a sexton appointed 
adjourned to the second meeting in January, 1833. 
—Probate Court established in Milford, before probate bus- 
iness was done by county. 

1833— Voted : The sum of twenty-five dollars for seating the 
upper room of the new Town House, and the call included 
a consideration of the matter of the Foot Bridge near 
Elisha H. Stow's house. 

— At a special town meeting called to consider the matter 
of leasing ground, it was voted: That the selectmen be 
directed to lease to Canfield Curtis & Co., a site upon the 
vacant common westerly of the mill stream between Jef- 
ferson Bridge and the Episcopal Church, for a term of 999 
years, for the purpose of manufacturing carriages, etc. 
—Present Meeting House of Plymouth Church erected. 

1834 — Mr. E. R. Lambert petitioned the toAvn for the privilege 
of making a copy of such town records as were desirable 
to publish in a history of the town, with a request to be 
permitted to take them out for a reasonable time. His 
request was granted under restrictions. 



90 

1835 — Charles Island sold to John Harris for Country Seat. 
— Mr. Lambert made a survey of the town, published a 
map of same, and in book containing other historical mat- 
ter, included a history of the town. 
1836 — Marshall and Ferris petitioned the town for ground 
south of the Episcopal Church, to establish the manufac- 
ture of carriages. The said ground was never used for 
that purpose, but a carriage business was conducted on a 
Cherry Street site by Ferris Brothers for a number of 
years, finally destroyed by fire and never rebuilt. 
— Methodist Episcopal Society of Milford was formed at 
the house of Stephen Gunn. 

The Beach Bros, for many years conducted an extensive 
carriage business east of the river at the Maple Street 
Bridge. The buildings later used by Beecher & Miles for 
a short time, the American Hat Weaving Co. and the J. H. 
Fisher Co., straw hat manufacturers. 
1837 — M. E. Church Society bought a building for Meeting 

House. 
1838 — Rogers, Gardner & Davis began the manufacture of car- 
riages. 
1839 — A Fire Company was organized and Theodore Budding- 
ton was foreman. The engine was the then popular type 
of side bar, hand drive, and was called Wepowang No. 1. 
It was housed in a small building near West River Street, 
perhaps three rods southerly from the present Municipal 
Building. 
1840 — Rev. David Coe appointed Assistant Pastor of First 

Congregational Church. 
1842 — Orange Church renamed Orange Eccl. Soc. from No. 

Milford Eccl. Soc. 
1843 — jMill partially destroyed by freshet. 

— Town granted .$150 to Nathan Fowler to put up a sub- 
stantial stone bridge over the flumeway near his mill, he to 
forever keep it in repair. 

Note : — This is the present causeway east of the ]\Iemor- 
ial Bridge. About this time this was waslied out by a 
freshet and Mr. Fowler desired the assistance of the town 
to aid in rebuilding it. 
1844 — Methodist Society erected a new House yet standing as 
a part of "Smith's Block" on River Street, used by the 



91 

Society until the Mary Taylor Memorial M. E. Church was 
built, 1892-3. 

1844 — The I. 0. 0. F. Lodge was organized and for a time met 
in the basement of Plymouth C'hurch, later over the store 
of Messrs. G. and j\I. Tibbals. 

— New York and New Haven Railroad began work on 
roadbed. 

1845 — Baptist Society erected new Meeting House and the old 
building was moved to corner of Daniel and River Streets, 
said old building having been erected' in 1760 by money 
furnished in part by the British Government to replace one 
destroyed by fire during its occupancy by British troops. 
It was in this building that the 46 American soldiers died 
and their faithful nurse, Capt. Stephen Stow, with them in 
1777. 

1848 — Voted that Wallace C. Wilcox and others be given per- 
mission to place a cupola and bell on the Town Hall at their 
own expense and with the approval of the Selectmen. 
— The first passenger train through between New York 
and New Haven. Mr. William G. Mitchell (lately de- 
ceased) said to have been a passenger on the first train. 

1849 — Gold fever raging. Ship "Isaac Bell" from New Ha- 
ven, fitted out by mutual contributions, took about a score 
of adventurers from IMilford, but few of whom ever re- 
turned. 
— Rev. Mr. Primeo died. 

1852 — About this time the sewing machine was introduced in 
the town and operated by Miss Caroline McCoy (later Mrs. 
AA-m. Bush), in the manufacture of shoes by Mr. Leonard 
Davidson. Episcopal Church erected. 
— Messrs. Flagg & Baldwin began the manufacture of 
straw hats in Milford. i\Iiss Mary Mills from England 
came as an expert to teach the sewing of braid into hats 
(she later married Mr. Isaac Green, Jr.). Mr. Harvey 
Beach, our esteemed citizen, yet among us, has been contin- 
uously^ in the employ of the successive managers since its 
inception. 

— A monument was erected to the memory of forty-six 
American soldiers who, with their companions, were set 
ashore in Milford to the number of about 200 souls. These 
forty-six died and were buried in one common grave. The 



92 

corner stone was laid with imposing ceremony, Governor 
Seymour officiating. 

1853 — The advent of the Irish people in our town, during the 
construction of the railroad, was followed by a very gen- 
erous settlement of them as permanent residents. Being 
almost entirely of the Catholic faith they early and earn- 
estly set about providing themselves a house of worship. 
In spite of the many obstacles, being of the poorer class in 
purse, they gave freely, and in 1853 were able to meet 
und'er their own roof. 

— A Gas plant installed at Straw Hat Factory. Wax can- 
dles had been in use there. 

1854— Resolved : That David L. Baldwin, John Smith, Ham- 
mond R. Beach, and the association be given permission to 
remove the Town Hall northward to stand on or near the 
south line of the Baptist Church and westward to a line 
which shall leave the street not less than seventy feet in 
width, the east location to be determined by the Select- 
men, and that in consideration of said improvement being 
effected by private means it is agreed that the space south 
of said buildings and between the two roads shall forever 
remain as a public green; laid on the table until the next 
meeting, when it was introduced in a new form, which was 
that a committee be appointed to fix a location for the re- 
moval of the Town Hall ; carried in the affirmative. 
— The committee reported at next meeting, and a commit- 
tee appointed to carry out the work. 

— The town voted that a new and more recent type of fire 
engine should be purchased and a more commodious build- 
ing for its housing. The company took a new name, Arc- 
tic No. 1, and with it a new inspiration. 
— About this time through the influence of Mr. Nathan G. 
Baldwin and Flagg Brothers, Elisha, Marshal and George, 
Mr. Nathan B. Merwin of the IMilford House was induced 
to provide a room for the establishment of the Higgins 
Club which from that time has been a feature of our town. 
— Town Hall moved in line with Baptist Church. 

1856 — In or about this year daily papers were distributed in 
]\rilford by Frank Chaydeane, and have continued to be 
supplied pretty regularly from that time. Coal burning 



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93 

locomotives were put on the railroad and soon the large 
wood piles were abolished. 

1857 — Curtis Bros, opened a drug store. 
— Kerosene gaining in public favor. 

1858 — IToopskirts manufactured by William Cornwall. 
— The Milford Lyceum instituted. 

1859 — A Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons was organized 
with eight Charter members, most of whom were non-af- 
filiated members. Several others, either residents of the 
town or visitors, attended, and in 1860 twenty members 
were added. 

1860 — Presidential year and political organizations paraded the 
streets with uniformed men, torchlights and bands. About 
this time the colored people organized a Brass Band, first 
in town. 

1861 — Business dead. AVar clouds appearing. Neighbor 
scowling at neighbor, and at length the thunder bolt of 
war. George Van Horn was the first to don the Union 
Blue. He was a member of Capt. Chatfield Company in 
AA'^aterbury and went with the company to the front. He 
later re-enlisted and served three years. 

1862 — Many enlistments from the town. Business very brisk. 
Specie payments suspended. Postage stamps used for 
small change. 

1864 — The manufacture of army shoes. Silliman & Co. em- 
ployed many hands. The Bosworth Straw Sewing Ma- 
chine introduced and company incorporated. 

1865 — A. A. Baldwin began the manufacture of fine shoes, later 
merged into the firm of Baldwin & Lambkin, and a new- 
factory was erected on Broad Street. 

— Gen. Lee surrendered up Appomattox. A few days later 
Mr. Lincoln was assassinated. Peace was soon declared 
and the Veterans began returning to their homes. 

1866— The Telegraph Station in Milford. Peter Hobart, oper- 
ator. 

1867 — Beecher & Miles began the manufacture of carriages in 
]\Iilford. They also manufactured a wooden frame, direct 
drive, bicycle, wheels of equal size about 28 inches, similar 
^1 form to the modern pattern, probably in 1868 or 9. 
—The Baptist Society having disbanded, the building was 



94 

sold to the town by IMr. Thaddeus Smith, to be used as a 
Town Hall. 

1871 — George Van Horn, Post G. A. K., organized. 

1872— Milford Savings Bank Incorporated. 

1873 — First Weeklj^ Newspaper printed in Milford. 

1875 — Graded School system adopted and new building dedi- 
cated. 

1876 — Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. ]\Iany in attend- 
ance from Milford. 

1877 — Harbor dredged and breakwater built by government 
appropriation. 

1878 — Masonic Hall corner stone laid. 

1882— St. Mary's R. C. Church dedicated. 

1885 — St. Mary's R. C. Church first resident pastor. 
— AVoodmunt Chapel Society organized. 

1886— Lucia Chapter, 0. E. S., instituted. 

1887 — Isabella Rebecca Lodge instituted. 
— Volunteer Council, R. A., instituted. 
— Milford Lyceum lost by fire 1 900 volumes. 

1888 — George Van Horn Woman's Relief Corps instituted. 
- — Soldiers Monument (Civil War) dedicated. 

1889 — Memorial Bridge dedicated. 

1891— William Fowler Council, 0. U. A. M., instituted. 

1892— Wheel Club organized. 

1893 — Taylor Library Incorporated. 

1894 — Books of JMilford Lj^ceum, transferred. 
— Milford Citizen (Weekly) issued. 

1895 — Formal acceptance of Library of Town. President, AV. 
B. Stoddard; Vice President, Miss Alargharita Taylor; Sec- 
retary, Ernest Witterwell ; Treasurer, AVilliam Cecil Du- 
rant ; Librarian, AVallace S. Chase. 

1896 — Freelove Baldwin Stow Chapter, D. A. R., instituted. 

1898 — Tuesday Afternoon Club (ladies) organized. 

1900 — Trolley line in operation. 

1904 — D. A. R. Chapter House dedicated. 

1905 — Lauralton Hall passed to Sisters of Mercy. 

1906 — St. Agnes R. C. Chapel, AVoodmont, dedicated. 

1908— Central High School Building erected, cost $190,000. 

1909 — Village Improvement Association organized and incor- 
porated. 

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95 

— Harbor AA^oocls presented to the Village Improvement 

Association by Clark Wilcox. Transformed into Wilcox 

Park, and presented to the town. 

— Franklin 11. Fowler, gift of land for park. 

— North Street Bridge (Old Kissing Bridge) dedicated. 

— George Van Horn Camp, Sons of Veterans, institnted. 

1910 — Rodman Gnn presented to the Village Improvement As- 
sociation by the AVar Department, and mounted and pre- 
sented to the town by the Association. 

1911 — Mortgage cleared from Chapter Ilonse, D. A. R. 

1912 — Milford Trust Co. opened for business. 

1914 — Ye Fowler's Mill, Memorial, corner stone laid. 

1915 — Municipal Building destroyed by fire. Records saved, 
otherwise total loss. G. "A. R. lost everything. Furni- 
ture insured. 
— AValnut Beach School building erected. 

1916 — 'Corner stone of new Municipal Building laid June 17. 
— Additional land j^urchased by Cemetery Association. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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